SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Scott MacDowell is a man on a mission.
He's changed his diet, started exercising more, and even lost weight to help manage the impact of his late-stage kidney disease—caused by Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS).
"I'm not on dialysis yet and I'm trying to fight it," he said.
But he says the biggest change has been managing a positive mindset as he waits for a kidney transplant that the desperately needs.
And it hasn't been easy.
"You go for bloodwork and then you find out you're 'x' percentage lower than you were and it causes some pain for a few days until I get a grip on myself and say, 'hey you gotta go, you gotta deal with it. Whatever time you have left might as well make it positive time,'" he said.
Macdowell's closest family have all been ruled out as donors—with his wife...Jeannine found out just a few weeks ago that a rare condition would keep her on the sidelines.
"It's called FMD, fibromuscular dysplasia," she said.
They've now turned to Facebook to search for a miracle—with daughter Amanda MacDowell spearheading the effort.
"I've posted on there and gotten amazing feedback," said MacDowell, "And it's lifted my spirits and it's lifted my dad's, given him a little more hope."
It's a bright spot of hope—as Scott works to keep moving forward and shares advice for others in a similar position.
"You've gotta pick yourself up and you've gotta be your own advocate and your own, a little bit, your own doctor too," he said.
If you want to be tested to see if you're a match for Scott's needed donation—his family says the best way to do that is to go through the living donor program at Tampa General Hospital.
You can access that program by going to this website, the Tampa General Living website.
Once there, you can fill out the necessary information and include Scott MacDowell's full name and date of birth, 03-24-1963.
"Then, once this is complete, a donor coordinator from Tampa would contact you and speak further about the next steps. Everything is confidential and between you guys unless you’d want to let me know," said MacDowell.
If you have any questions, his daughter MacDowell says you can call her directly here: 774-249-8516.
