Spalding County

Mom living in hotel while daughter treated for kidney failure crowdsources a new home

J'ADORE SLEDGE GOFUNDME

GRIFFIN, Ga. — A Georgia single mom with eight children was able to fundraise enough to get a new car and new home after creating a GoFundMe campaign to ask the community for help with bills and medical expenses.

Ebon Sledge, mom to 10-year-old J’Adore, started the fundraising effort in June after totaling her car, putting her ability to take J’Adore to treatment in jeopardy.

Sledge’s daughter has been on dialysis for three years, and in November, both of her kidneys were removed.

The family is still searching for a donor that could help save J’Adore.

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Via posts online, Sledge said the family of nine had been living in a hotel room, and after making a post about needing a donor for her daughter, a friend suggested reaching out to news outlets and starting a donation campaign.

In May, Sledge said two of the three big goals had been accomplished: she had a new car and was able to use the donations to lease a new home for her family.

She’s still taking J’Adore to dialysis treatments three times a week, and works two part-time jobs to make ends meet, in addition to the fundraising campaign.

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J’Adore went into kidney failure when she was seven, which is what kickstarted her need for dialysis treatments.

The family’s GoFundMe said they were trying to raise $100,000 while also looking for a transplant match.

“Because of J’Adore’s dialysis schedule, it does make it hard to work. I would love to raise funds to move is into a big enough place for all of us, I totaled my car last June so I would love to get a new car. J’Adore’s dialysis center is over an hour away, therefore funds would help with gas,” the family wrote on the GoFundMe campaign. “Once J’Adore gets a transplant working will become nearly impossible while she recovers I would like to be able to raise funds so that bills will not fall behind I can comfortably care for her.”

Sledge expects to need about three months post-transplant to take care of J’Adore.

She thanked God, and those who donated, for “blessing” the family with a new vehicle and a new home.

Sledge was able to purchase the car in late June.

So far, the fundraising efforts have added up to $70,125 from more than 1,000 donations.

A Facebook page with updates on J’Adore’s treatments and experience show the family will be visiting Disney World later this month thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, according to reporting by USAToday.

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