Early Years with a Kidney Transplant

As a toddler I was featured in a couple things to promote things like the Children’s Miracle Network, sick leave for parents and even unveiling a new stamp that featured organ donation.

In 1990, the year I had my transplant I was on the telethon for Children’s Miracle Network. My parent’s were thrust into this world with plenty of support, but nobody knew as much then as they do now about kids and kidney transplants. Especially children as young as me. There was no guide book, no internet to go to when you weren’t sure about something. My parent’s did the incredible by keeping me going strong and keeping me healthy through those critical first 2 years. In organ donation the first 2 years are the scary adjusting period for the new organ. Many things can go wrong. So not only did my parents have to contend with raising their first and only child and all the learning curves that go into that, they also had to cope with the stress of me having an organ transplant that young.

And I did great! I had fluctuating numbers from time to time but all in all I did great those first years all thanks to my parents. They both worked. My mother a travel agent and my father a Mechanic. I luckily had amazing grandparents that were able to help watch me growing up so they could both work. I truly lived an amazing life as a child because my parents worked so hard.

The biggest thing I’m grateful for growing up was that my parents had the ability to raise me without making me feel different. My parents made me feel as if I could become anything or do anything I wanted growing up. Never once did I feel bad or scared about my situation when I was little. I knew I was different, but I never saw it in a negative way. And that alone means so much to me. My parents were able to make all the routine blood draws, all the doctors, all the sights, sounds and smells, all the medication feel normal. It’s still amazing to me that they had the ability to do all that and stay strong all while having to watch their only child endure so much. I still to this day wish I had that strength.

I grew up a few years in our house in Pflugerville Texas. We had family close by if there was any issues and routinely went to the doctors to monitor everything as a grew. We started going to UTMB in Galveston less because Austin started to have a specialty children’s hospital. I can still remember seeing so many medical students evaluating me as a went to check ups growing up. It just made me feel special but I also realized I was different. At times I felt like a specimen to them as they’d examine me closely and all discuss with each other every little mark on my body and how my levels were and what medications they’d used to keep me going. But again, my parents made me feel alright about it all. I remarkably felt pretty normal in a lot of ways growing up.

People would always tell my parents I don’t talk like a little kid. They’d always say even as a little boy I talked like an adult. I think in a way I was always around doctors and adults so much from birth that I never had the same development as most kids. I honestly never felt like I related to kids my age much growing up. I’ve always felt a good 5 to 7 years older than I am. I still enjoyed kid stuff and always got along with other kids. But I’ve always felt like an outsider in a way. I never knew anyone with the same problems as me.

But that was okay because I had amazing parents and grandparents who always cheered me on and encouraged me to be the best I could be. I never needed anything more that that. All I’ve ever needed through all of this is my family.