Lois Harmande felt helpless as she watched her friend and neighbor Elba Noble struggle for a year with her son's illness and search for a kidney donor.

Mikey Noble had been stricken in January 2008, on his 18th birthday, with a rare autoimmune disorder that ruined his kidneys.
He needed a life-saving transplant.

Mikey had grown up with Harmande's two children in their Rockrimmon neighborhood and she felt a bond to the Noble family. In January, she and Bev Creswell, another family friend, were talking about the stress they were witnessing and wondering what they could do to help.

"We needed to get involved," Harmande said.

In a few short months, Harmande and Creswell built a support network and fundraising machine that would make TV infomercial folks envious.

"We saw the huge frustration and worry and burden on them," Creswell said. "We started talking about what we could do."

Visit www.mikeynoble.com and see for yourself what their conversations have produced. They used Internet research and e-mail address books to gather ideas, talent and contacts.

Inspired by a blueprint they found at the National Foundation for Transplants, they reached out and enlisted others to help.

For example, a family friend built the Web site where they told Mikey's story and posted regular updates about his status and search for a donor, as well as his surgery and recovery.

The site's volunteer page is where you really see the depth of the friends' efforts.

One friend is selling cookbooks to raise money. Another organized a tennis tournament fundraiser. There is a casino night planned in August and ongoing restaurant nights where business owners share profits.

Many of the projects they've organized are more basic, like a simple canister campaign to collect change at businesses. There are garage sales. Cosmetics parties. Bake sales.

The efforts are paying off. They have raised about $25,000 that will be held in trust until Mikey turns 25 and is no longer insurable.
It sounds like a lot of money, but consider what he'll need: upwards of $5,000 a month for anti-rejection medications. For life.

Harmande and Creswell want to raise enough to cover his first three years. They are optimistic, given the response of Springs businesses and residents.

"We live in a community where people give and give," Harmande said.

Other folks in need could learn a lot from what Harmande and Creswell are doing for the Nobles.

And that thought has occurred to the women.

"You know, there are a lot of people like Mikey here," Creswell said. "Maybe we've started something that should be permanent."

Elba Noble is in awe of her neighbors and friends.

"I can't imagine being without them," she said.
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See photos on my blog at
gazette.com/blogs/sidestreets