This month our family got to meet my daughter's kidney donor! So I wanted to write about the whole process of the transplant as it happened for our family.
Our daughter was born very prematurely at 23.5 weeks gestation because of an infection I was not even aware I had. On her 12th day of life, she became acutely ill and during that time, her kidneys were damaged from lack of blood flow and stopped growing. She came home from the hospital after 5 months and at that time she had 25% kidney function. At the age of two, her body outgrew her kidneys' ability to take care of her. When your kidney function goes below 15%, you qualify for a transplant as long as you meet other requirements, such as being big enough (in my daughter's case) and not having other serious medical problems that would make it hard for a transplant to succeed. There were some concerns about her lungs' ability to cope during a transplant but ultimately the transplant team accepted her as a candidate.
We wanted a kidney from a living donor for her, since those last longer on average. My husband has our daughter's same blood type so first he tried to qualify to be a kidney donor but was rejected which was probably for the best. So then it was my turn to test. I was accepted after fairly rigorous tests to make sure that both my kidneys and I were totally healthy. Unfortunately I could not donate directly to her because I have a different blood type. The next step was to be listed on the National Kidney Registry which exists to facilitate living donors. The story of how this registry got started is actually pretty interesting.
The registry worked hard to find a kidney for our daughter but it took about 9 months to find a good match. The transplant team wanted a smaller donor so the kidney would fit in our small daughter and they also wanted a young donor so the kidney would last longer. Not only the blood type needed to match but it's also much more desirable to have more antigens match. In addition, the donor can't have any antibodies that would interfere with Camille's ability to accept the kidney. It's extremely complicated and somewhat of a miracle that they figure these things out at all but computers really help in this process. By the way, children don't get kidneys from other children because those kind of transplants have not been successful in the past because of clotting issues.
Finally, in April of 2011, they informed us that they had found a match both for my daughter and also for me. We would be donating on the same day and we would be part of a chain that involved 9 donors and 9 recipients. That depended on everything working out including the final cross-matches which is a double-check to make sure that the donor has nothing in their blood to which the recipient's body is sensitive. I would be donating to a man in New Jersey.
Everything was working out fine but then my daughter came down with a minor cold a few days before the surgery was scheduled. I was concerned, but what could I do? Three-year-olds get colds all the time! We checked into the hospital the day before like we were supposed to, but my daughter's doctor decided her cold was too risky and cancelled her surgery. Since they like to do all the surgeries together to minimize the chances of a donor backing out, that meant all 18 surgeries were also postponed. Aargh!
The following day, they decided to go forward with all the other surgeries, except for my daughter's, the following week. So we had to make the decision: do I donate my kidney and have faith that our daughter's donor wouldn't back out when our daughter was well enough to do it? The other complication was that the day they wanted me to donate was the day that my oldest son was returning home after a two-year mission for our church in Germany. We hadn't seen him in over two years and I REALLY wanted to be at the airport to greet him instead of in the hospital. It was the one day of the year I really wanted to be healthy. I was quite upset when I heard this latest development. I felt like I had been waiting two years for this celebration and now I wouldn't be there.
Ultimately I prayed about it and received a very clear answer that I should go ahead. The decision was made easier when we found out that my daughter's donor was a Good Samaritan donor. This is the name they give to donors who are not donating to benefit any one person but are donating purely for altruistic reasons. When you hear that someone is doing this for your child, it is truly hard to comprehend. Hearing about people like that gives you faith that there is a lot of good in the world.
I went into the hospital early on a Tuesday morning at the end of May and donated my kidney. My kidney was flown off to New Jersey with another kidney on a chartered airplane. Everything went well for me and my recipient. My husband spent most of the day with me and then went home to pick up the other children and greet our son at the airport. I was able to see him not long after and then quite a bit over the next few days as they visited me at the hospital. My recovery went well and I was able to go home on Friday.
Two weeks later, my daughter received her new kidney. After the surgery, she was hooked up to so many machines in the Pediatric ICU and she was swollen from all the extra fluids they gave to help the new kidney function but I felt peaceful knowing that this was the right thing to do.
To be continued...
Our daughter was born very prematurely at 23.5 weeks gestation because of an infection I was not even aware I had. On her 12th day of life, she became acutely ill and during that time, her kidneys were damaged from lack of blood flow and stopped growing. She came home from the hospital after 5 months and at that time she had 25% kidney function. At the age of two, her body outgrew her kidneys' ability to take care of her. When your kidney function goes below 15%, you qualify for a transplant as long as you meet other requirements, such as being big enough (in my daughter's case) and not having other serious medical problems that would make it hard for a transplant to succeed. There were some concerns about her lungs' ability to cope during a transplant but ultimately the transplant team accepted her as a candidate.
 |
| Our daughter at age 2 when she qualified for a transplant. |
We wanted a kidney from a living donor for her, since those last longer on average. My husband has our daughter's same blood type so first he tried to qualify to be a kidney donor but was rejected which was probably for the best. So then it was my turn to test. I was accepted after fairly rigorous tests to make sure that both my kidneys and I were totally healthy. Unfortunately I could not donate directly to her because I have a different blood type. The next step was to be listed on the National Kidney Registry which exists to facilitate living donors. The story of how this registry got started is actually pretty interesting.
The registry worked hard to find a kidney for our daughter but it took about 9 months to find a good match. The transplant team wanted a smaller donor so the kidney would fit in our small daughter and they also wanted a young donor so the kidney would last longer. Not only the blood type needed to match but it's also much more desirable to have more antigens match. In addition, the donor can't have any antibodies that would interfere with Camille's ability to accept the kidney. It's extremely complicated and somewhat of a miracle that they figure these things out at all but computers really help in this process. By the way, children don't get kidneys from other children because those kind of transplants have not been successful in the past because of clotting issues.
 |
| This picture was taken on a family trip right before we found out that a donor had been found for our daughter. She lost that front tooth in an accident the month before--I was not happy! |
Finally, in April of 2011, they informed us that they had found a match both for my daughter and also for me. We would be donating on the same day and we would be part of a chain that involved 9 donors and 9 recipients. That depended on everything working out including the final cross-matches which is a double-check to make sure that the donor has nothing in their blood to which the recipient's body is sensitive. I would be donating to a man in New Jersey.
Everything was working out fine but then my daughter came down with a minor cold a few days before the surgery was scheduled. I was concerned, but what could I do? Three-year-olds get colds all the time! We checked into the hospital the day before like we were supposed to, but my daughter's doctor decided her cold was too risky and cancelled her surgery. Since they like to do all the surgeries together to minimize the chances of a donor backing out, that meant all 18 surgeries were also postponed. Aargh!
The following day, they decided to go forward with all the other surgeries, except for my daughter's, the following week. So we had to make the decision: do I donate my kidney and have faith that our daughter's donor wouldn't back out when our daughter was well enough to do it? The other complication was that the day they wanted me to donate was the day that my oldest son was returning home after a two-year mission for our church in Germany. We hadn't seen him in over two years and I REALLY wanted to be at the airport to greet him instead of in the hospital. It was the one day of the year I really wanted to be healthy. I was quite upset when I heard this latest development. I felt like I had been waiting two years for this celebration and now I wouldn't be there.
Ultimately I prayed about it and received a very clear answer that I should go ahead. The decision was made easier when we found out that my daughter's donor was a Good Samaritan donor. This is the name they give to donors who are not donating to benefit any one person but are donating purely for altruistic reasons. When you hear that someone is doing this for your child, it is truly hard to comprehend. Hearing about people like that gives you faith that there is a lot of good in the world.
I went into the hospital early on a Tuesday morning at the end of May and donated my kidney. My kidney was flown off to New Jersey with another kidney on a chartered airplane. Everything went well for me and my recipient. My husband spent most of the day with me and then went home to pick up the other children and greet our son at the airport. I was able to see him not long after and then quite a bit over the next few days as they visited me at the hospital. My recovery went well and I was able to go home on Friday.
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| Me right after surgery, feeling pretty groggy |
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| My husband with our son at the airport |
Two weeks later, my daughter received her new kidney. After the surgery, she was hooked up to so many machines in the Pediatric ICU and she was swollen from all the extra fluids they gave to help the new kidney function but I felt peaceful knowing that this was the right thing to do.
To be continued...
At the Kidney Transplant Network we assist those individuals worldwide who need a transplant. This includes Kidney, Liver, Heart, Stomach, and Lung Transplants. This is accomplished by pro-actively going out in the “general public” and locating those individuals who want to donate an organ. Thru collective efforts we utilize cutting edge technology, Social Media, Referrals, Networking, Non-Profit Organizations, Private & Public Hospitals, Clinics, Hospices, and private donors.
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