A family in one South Florida county has is hoping a message placed high on a billboard overlooking a major roadway will get across an important message: a beloved member of their family needs a new kidney.
The family of Natalie Imbasciani bought space on a billboard along the northbound lanes of I-95 in Palm Beach Gardens asking for help to get the needed organ, saying if would be taken down Monday if they can’t raise the money needed to keep it up.
“Natalie is currently 44 years old, she's been on dialysis more than five years, and we're just looking for that one person to pull on their heartstrings and be a match and give her the gift of life,” her brother-in-law, Christopher Moussally, told NBC affiliate WPTV-TV.
Moussally said that Imbasciani had been given a kidney from her father, but is now in renal failure and in dialysis three days a week for four hours a day. He said the family has placed a phone number on magnetic car stickers so they can carry it all the way to New Jersey.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
"I fight because Natalie's a fighter and, you know, you would never know speaking with her that she has all of these issues," he said. "She would never ask for sympathy. She would never let you know she's in pain."
Imbasciani said she has seen people die in the six years since her first transplant and has plans for what she would do with a second procedure.
"I would go back to work," she said. "I would travel more. I miss my best friend. I haven't seen her in over 13 years. You know, it's just a lot."
