Man Donates Kidney To His 6-Year-Old Son

Man Donates Kidney To His 6-Year-Old Son
Boy Says He'll Have 3 Kidneys

POSTED: 2:50 pm CDT May 18, 2007
www.ketv.com

OMAHA, Neb. -- An Omaha family has journeyed from renal failure to recovery thanks to a kidney donation from a father to his young son.

Their message to everyone is that living organ donors can save lives.

Mark Stursma gave a kidney to his eldest son, Luke, who is 6. In an interview, Luke was not afraid to talk about something that makes him extra special.

"I'll have three kidneys -- two in the back and one in the front," the boy said with excitement in his voice.

Luke was born with two very small kidneys. In recent months, he's been through blood work and tests that showed renal failure. He needed a kidney transplant.

Mark tested positive as a match.

"I've said, 'He can have the kidney and he can have whatever else he needs, too,'" Stursma said.

As worried parents, Stursma and his wife, Brenda, said they had to mentally prepare for the emotions of two surgeries.

"It'll be something to look back on, that's for sure," Brenda Stursma said.

"We've heard some doctors say he's going to have more energy after the surgery. I'm not sure that's possible, but we sure hope so," Mark Stursma said.

Early on the morning of April 17, Mark and Luke arrived at the Nebraska Medical Center.

"As a father, it was such a relief to be able to do this for Luke. And whatever it takes, that's what we'll do," Mark Stursma said.

Doctors said the risks of the procedure are small, the chance of death is less than 0.01 percent.

"About half -- a little over half -- of our kidney transplants are living donor transplants," Dr. Lucy Wrenshall. "We typically do two a week, although our numbers have been increasing quite a bit and we hope to do three a week, so they're fairly common."

Wrenshall said she made a series of small incisions and one larger one to complete the procedure on each Stursma. In total, the surgeries took about eight hours to complete.

Just weeks after the transplant, Mark and Luke Stursma were back at home and mostly back to normal.

"Luke's climbing on things, playing like nothing happened. I'm out, walking some, feeling pretty good," Mark Stursma said.

Mark Stursma said he hopes people who hear his family's story will consider being organ donors to save the life of someone else.

Mark Stursma said he is an avid biker and he hopes to show a quick recovery process by participating in three biking races in the next few months.

If you'd like more information on being a living organ donor, contact the Nebraska Organ Recovery network at 402-733-1800.

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