STATUS:
Waiting
Cathleen Burgess dedicated 36 years of her life to serving in the US Military. Cathleen was a laboratory technician while completing her BSN from the University of Oklahoma. She then went into the Army Reserves for three years while they worked on getting her transferred to active duty in 1980. She was commissioned as an officer in 1983. During her following 32 years, Cathleen continued in the nursing field, reaching the rank of Lt. Colonel and served as Chief Nurse while in Japan. She was also Chief Nurse of Ambulatory/Primary Care at William Beaumont Medical Center. She also was deployed for 22 months during Operation Enduring Freedom.
After her retirement in 2015, Cathleen continued working for an Army Contract as a case manager at Fort Bliss and did consulting for nursing in civilian hospitals. She was born in Bethesda, MD but found she loved the people and warm weather in Texas, so she stayed! She has many good friends that support her, and she enjoys playing golf, belongs to a book club and is a part of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). She also volunteers at the El Paso Zoo.
In 2020, she had bloodwork that necessitated a trip to a nephrologist, found out she had hypertension that was out of control, which was the start of kidney disease. She is doing peritoneal dialysis at home, which can leave her fatigued, but her spirits remain high.
With a new kidney, she would be able to get back to her life and love of traveling and being outdoors! Cathleen has enlisted the help of a Veteran's organization called DOVE Transplant which is helping in her outreach to find a life-saving kidney donor. DOVE will assist all prospective donors throughout the process and make sure they do not incur any out-of-pocket expenses related to the evaluation or surgery.
A healthy person can live a normal life with one kidney and save this Veteran's life! Please click on the link below if you would like to learn more OR call 551-449-8319.
Cathleen Burgess
Air Force & Army Veteran
