Wanted: Living kidney donor for young teenager

Wanted: Living kidney donor for young teenager
Published: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 5:00 AM
Sheila Stroup, The Times-Picayune Sheila Stroup, The Times-Picayune

Jason LaHatte, 13, who is about to start 8th grade at Jesuit, needs a kidney transplant. LaHatte had his first transplant at 6, but now that kidney is losing function.

But he has a problem no 13-year-old should have to face: He needs a new kidney.

“I wish I didn’t have to get one, but I know I do,” he says. “It’s just aggravating to have to do it now because they put me in the accelerated program at Jesuit, and I’m going to have a lot of makeup work.”

So while Jonnie and Joe LaHatte worry about finding a living donor for their son, he worries about homework.

“I think Joe and I are more stressed out than he is,” Jonnie, Jason’s mom, says.

This isn’t the first time the LaHattes have needed a kidney for Jason.

In 2002, when he was 5, he got sick suddenly during a trip to the beach. When they came back to Metairie, they took him to their pediatrician, who sent them to Children’s Hospital after running blood tests.

That same day, they received the stunning news: Their little boy had end-stage kidney disease and needed a new kidney.

They spent two weeks in the hospital with him, and he went home with a shunt in his stomach and a dialysis machine. Jason had to be on dialysis for 10 hours every night.

The LaHattes learned that kidney disease is called “the silent killer” because people die waiting for a donor. They also learned that a person can get along fine with only one kidney and that a kidney from a living donor has less chance of being rejected than a kidney from someone who has died.

The whole family got tested, but the donor needed to have type O blood, and nobody was a match except Jonnie’s 80-year-old mother.

Jason didn’t do well on dialysis. He was often too sick to go to kindergarten at St. Ann Elementary School in Metairie. He had high blood pressure, an enlarged heart, and no appetite. His health was failing.

Then, in September, a message left on the LaHattes’ answer machine changed everything.

It was from Cindy Hudson, who had known Jonnie and Joe from years earlier, when their older sons were grade-school friends. She had heard about their desperate problem from her sister, who worked at Jason’s school.

She said, “I have type O blood, and I’ll give you a kidney.”

Hudson proved to be a perfect match, and the transplant was done in November. Two days after his sixth birthday, Jason had a new kidney. It started working while he was still on the operating table, and when he went home, there was no shunt in his stomach, no scary machine in his bedroom.

“Cindy saved his life, no doubt,” Joe says. “She said she’d do it again if she could.”

For nearly eight years, Jason’s transplant has allowed him to live a normal life. But recent tests show it’s beginning to fail.

“His labs started getting worse and worse, and in June his lab work got really bad,” Jonnie says. “The kidney is working only about 18 percent.”

Except for tiring easily, though, Jason says he feels fine.

“He’s such a good kid, and he has a great attitude,” Jonnie says. “We’re just hoping he won’t have to go on dialysis again.”

So they are looking for a donor, under 45, with type O blood.

“The younger the donor, the less chance the kidney will be rejected,” Jonnie says.

The Jesuit Band Boosters, the Knights of Columbus, the St. Ann’s Men’s Club and members of SOLACE, a group that provides support to those in the legal community whose families are facing difficulties, have been spreading the word about Jason.

“I belong to a rosary group, and people have said, ‘Oh, he can have my kidney,’” Jonnie says. “It’s just that we need a younger person.”

Hudson, who teaches second grade at St. Francis Xavier School in Metairie, would be happy to talk to anyone considering becoming a living donor. She says there’s nothing to it, and she has had no ill effects from having only one kidney.

“It was easier than giving birth, and I didn’t have to bring home a baby,” she jokes.

She had “two tiny incisions,” and she was in the hospital for only four days.

“If you’re in good health and you take care of yourself, there’s no reason not to do it,” she says.

Now, time is running out. Every time Jason gets tested, the results are worse.

“We have to find a donor as soon as we can,” Jonnie says. “All we can do is keep praying and looking.”

Anyone interested in talking to Cindy Hudson about being a living donor can contact her at cthudson1@yahoo.com. To get in touch with the LaHatte family, contact Joe LaHatte at jlahatte@aol.com.

Sheila Stroup's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in Living. Contact her at sstroup@timespicayune.com or at 985.898.4831.

http://www.nola.com/living/index.ssf/2010/08/wanted_living_kidney_donor_for.html