I first got sick when I was 4 years old with a disease known as Focal Segmental Glomerial Sclerosis. It attacked both of my kidney's so quick that many steroid treatments and many many hospital stays were not working in making me better. I was living in Virginia at the time, and then I moved to South Dakota and was hospitalized and put on dialysis to help me feel better. My mom's boss at work came forth as a guardian angel to us for she donated me her kidney. I felt so much better and was able to play in sports and be a normal kid. It has been 8 years since that day (Dec. 15, 1999) and now my transplanted kidney has given up the fight of keeping me well. I have had to quit football and wrestling because I am too small and too weak to play. I am on peritoneal dialysis at home. I have to hook up to a machine every night for 9 hours to help rid my body of the toxins that my kidney would normally have done. Things have not been going too well lately. I have had many hospitalizations for seizures and now I have high Phosphorus levels in my body because my kidneys don't rid it from my body and the vessels in my body and the lining in my brain have started to calcify. I have very high blood pressure and extreme headaches all the time. I take 22 different medications every day. I also have to go for lab work every week and to doctor appts every week. I am on 2 transplant lists (In Omaha, and in Sioux Falls) so I hope this will help me get a kidney. My blood type is rare B+ so this may cause me to be on longer, but I am hopeful that I will have one before baseball season. All of our Family and Friends please keep us in your prayers!!!Anyone interested in testing to see if you are a potential match you can contact: Jolene Halsne Sanford Transplant Coordinator 1-800-949-0670 www.halsnej@sanfordhealth.org
My mom, sister and I had took a trip to Minneapolis for Memorial Day weekend. We had a lot of fun. My mom and sister did a lot of shopping at the Mall of America. I rode my first roller coaster. Our hotel had a indoor waterpark. We went to the zoo, and Science Museum. It was good to get away from the doctors and hospital.
I am 16 years old. I have been sick since I was 4 years old, and got my first kidney transplant at 7 years old, and now I am waiting for my 2nd transplant.