A Transplant Story

A young man in our parish - and family friend - recently wrote an essay for a contest about a transplant he underwent at a brave young age. The essay won him a trip to this winter's Rose Bowl Parade (riding on a float in the parade). We're tons of excited for him and his mom.

Mom gave me life - twice.  How many people can say that??  I can!  I'm 13 years old and 6 years ago, my mom gave me one of her kidneys so that I could feel what living really is!!!  I was born with one kidney that didn't work at all and one that was small and not working enough to survive without dialysis.  I was 4 days old when I had my first peritoneal dialysis catheter placed through surgery.  I don't remember it - or the stuff my mom went through after that.  My first memory of being sick was that my mom bought me a TV for my room.  I was about 3 and I remember thinking it was SO COOL to have a TV in my room!!!  But it was there for a reason - I was on dialysis 12 hours a day!  As I got older, those 12 hours of dialysis was like a prison sentence to me.  Other kids were spending the night with their friends (MY friends!), going to water parks, and playing lots of sports.  Dialysis was a part of my life and I needed it to live, but it was more like just surviving.  How do you really live when you're connected to a machine so many hours a day?

As I got older, my mom started talking about "the transplant."  I don't think I really understood what that meant.  I was only 6 years old when mom and my doctors started getting me ready.  I remember mom being really scared.  She didn't think I knew that she was scared, but I know she was.  She had never had any type of surgery before.  I had so many surgeries I couldn't count them all.  This was just one more, right?  WRONG!!  I didn't know that this surgery would give me a life I never knew about!!!  Mom was in a hospital next to mine because I was in one just for kids.  I remember waking up after the surgery and asking to see her.  Neither one of us felt very good, but we needed to see each other!  I couldn't believe it when they showed me where they put mom's kidney and that it was WORKING!!  It was the first time I remember NOT being on dialysis!!  I was 7 and starting a NEW LIFE.

As I got better, I found a WHOLE NEW WORLD!!  I get to go to NIGHTTIME baseball games, swimming parties and to friends' homes to spend the night! I play sports!! I get to see sunsets IN PERSON instead of on TV or through my window.  And I got to go to Disney World without any tubes or dialysis, and without being so tired and sick!  We went to Disney 3 months after my transplant to celebrate my life - my NEW life!!!  Now I'm a Passion Panel member with Mid-America Transplant Services because I want EVERYONE to know how important transplants are!!  I'm LIVING proof - and I'm LOVING life!!  Thanks Mom!!!

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