Nonprofit closes, women lose kidney transplant donations

AUBURN, Maine (WGME) — Another patient is left without access to donations after a national charity suddenly shut down.

A woman recovering from a kidney transplant was left struggling to cover expenses after the National Transplant Foundation suddenly shut down and took away donations raised by friends and family.

“I just had my transplant on May 5th of this year, so I'm two months post-op,” Jennifer Grenier said. “It's been an amazing experience.”

It's been a long journey for her to get to this point.

“I spent most of that month in the hospital,” Grenier said.

She was diagnosed with stage 5 kidney disease in 2017.

After years of dialysis and weeks on the transplant list, she finally has a functioning new kidney.

“I got the call at 10:30 on Saturday night, arrived in Boston by 1 a.m. and had the surgery at 9 a.m. on May 5th,” she said.

Grenier said she had been preparing for this moment for months, especially figuring out how to pay for the long journey from Maine to Boston.

“It's very expensive to have a transplant and have dialysis. Everything is expensive,” she said.

That's why she National Transplant FoundationShe was referred to Massachusetts General Hospital, a nonprofit organization that family and friends recommended to help raise money for her treatment.

“They raised over $3,000 for my transplant,” Grenier said.

But when she tried to access the money, she said she found the foundation had suddenly shut down.

“We were never notified that it was closed or that it was going to close. It was a huge shock because we depended on it. We knew we were going to need it,” Grenier said.

And she is not alone.

The National Transplant Foundation has been in existence for over 40 years and has funneled millions of dollars to thousands of patients.

But in April, they suddenly shut down operations, leaving the money many had raised untouched.

“We're all down on our luck right now. They probably have a ton of money and we have no recourse,” Grenier said. “How dare they do that!”

Patients assumed that money donated in their names would be kept for them, but the nonprofit said that wasn't the case, writing that “all donations made to NFT to support our patient services are made as unrestricted donations to NFT and not donations to any specific individual.” In other words, it appears the money is gone.

“I can't believe they would do this to us,” Grenier said. “I hope they get punished and we get our money back eventually. I'll be happy if I get my money back.”

The Massachusetts Attorney General's office said it has received numerous complaints about the nonprofit's closure and is investigating the matter.

A spokesperson for Massachusetts General Hospital said they are heartbroken for patients affected by NFT's closure, but added that they are only interested in educating patients about available funding sources and are not directly affiliated with the foundation itself.

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