GILMER/UPSHUR COUNTY (KYTX) - Family and friends are raising money for a Gilmer teen who needs a kidney transplant.
At First Baptist Church in Gilmer, a fundraiser is planned to raise money for a young lady who's not letting illness slow her down.
Nineteen-year-old Cortney Reid takes fourteen pills a day. She's dealt with disease all her life. But yet, she still goes to work, she still takes colleges classes. She's not stopping her life."
Pills are a big part of Cortney Reid's daily routine.
"I understand that I need these medicines," Cortney said, "and that I'm going to need a lot more to help my kidney function."
Cortney was born with a disease that, at age 19, is still tough to pronounce.
"Focal segmental something. I still haven't learned to say that last part."
Focal sclerosing glomerulosclerosis -- or FSG.
"I was born with one kidney, and the kidney that didn't form had this disease," the teen said.
Her mom, Sheila Reid, says early diagnosis as a newborn was a blessing.
"When they released her from the hospital, by the time we even made it home with our baby, we had a message on our answering machine saying we needed to bring her back, that she had a lot of blood in her urine," the mom said. "And that's the first sign."
Pills and constant blood testing left Cortney depressed at times, but to fight it, she got active.
After graduating high school, Reid's kidney function improved. She began taking classes at Kilgore college in Longview. She also got a job at a Gilmer restaurant.
"She works very good," her boss, Angelo's Italian Restaurant owner Angelo Gjonbalaj. "She does a very good job. She's very nice."
"That's what amazes me," her mom said, "is how she is going to school, working, doing all the things that she does."
Thursday, Sept. 27, there's going to be a chicken spaghetti dinner held here at First Baptist Church. They need to raise $250,000 for a transplant, but also raise money for medication after transplant medications that she's going to need for the rest of her life.
Family and friends are also making craft items to sell. After the surgery, Cortney will need medications estimated to cost $7,000 a month.
"I try really hard not to get down, not to go back to when I was really depressed," she said. "I try to reach out to my family, all these people who are willing to lend a hand to me."
The family will have those crafts available Oct. 19 and 20th when the Yamboree takes place. It's going to be right at the Brookshire's parking lot on U.S. 271 in Gilmer.
