Mother prepares to donate kidney

Sunday OCTOBER 21, 2007

Mother prepares to donate kidney

By Brennan David

John Bogle best describes his current situation as a family affair.

The Bogles eat together, vacation together and heal together, but not many families have the opportunity to care for each other the way they will in the upcoming months.

At the age of 3, John’s son Joey’s life was extended by the donation of his kidney. Now 16 years later, Joey’s mother will make the same sacrifice in hope of another 16 years of life.

In the upcoming months, Agnes Bogle will donate a kidney to her son to extend an already extended life. Joey’s donated kidney is beginning to wither and weaken according to his Tulane doctors, but Joey believes he still has a lifetime ahead of him.

“I did it once. I can do it again,” Joey said.

Joey’s fight for good health began six weeks after he was born in his own home. When his parents noticed something was wrong, they sought care and doctors immediately diagnosed him with urinary reflux, which badly damaged his kidneys.

One kidney was completely destroyed, while the other struggled to grow, he said. With the lack of functioning kidneys, Joey was treated with dialysis until the age of 3.

Once Joey was large enough, John Bogle donated a kidney to his son in 1991. The transplant went smoothly, and Joey, who is now an 18-year old business freshman at Southeastern Louisiana University, is living a healthy and productive life.

“You would have never known there was a thing wrong with him,” Agnes Bogle said. “He would play with his toys on the floor, even though there were machines hooked up to him.”

For the past 16 years, Joey enjoyed the fruits of childhood like most children. He went to school, made lots of friends and even holds a job at The Caboose as a bus boy.

With a laid back attitude toward life and a love of shooting basketball in the driveway, he said his life was as normal as could be, despite the time ticking on his donated kidney.

“The average kidney transplant last 10 to 15 years,” Agnes Bogle said. “He’s had his now for 16 years. His kidneys have slowed down in the last few months, so the doctors placed him on the list.”

Joey was placed on the donor list, but his mother has since stepped up and offered one of her two healthy kidneys to her son. His sister, Laura, originally offered her brother the kidney, but doctors thought his mother a better candidate.

“Laura is still young and plans to have a family,” Joey said. “The doctors said it made more sense to take mom’s kidney because she is healthy now and finished having children. There will also be more of a risk taking mom’s kidney 15 years from now because she will be older, while my sister will still be young.”

Today, Agnes Bogle is dieting in preparation for the surgery. Doctors have told her if she reaches a target weight, then the operation will proceed.

In the meantime, the Bogles constantly keep their bags packed awaiting a call from Tulane Medical Center.

“He’s done fine with that kidney,” John Bogle said. “It is just plain worn out. I would rather him not go through that dialysis. It would be hard to build a life around it”

For the next few weeks, Joey said he will be saving his money at work to prepare for the monthlong period he will likely be out of work following the transplant. The Hammond High School graduate said he appreciates what his parents have done for him and the sacrifices ahead.

While Agnes Bogle and her son will be healing following the transplant, John will handle the job of caregiver. Caring for both a wife and son following their upcoming surgery should be enough for any father, but John Bogle’s load has been heavier since his own kidney operation in May.

Just a few weeks following the announcement that his son would need a new kidney, the lone kidney John Bogle has lived with for the past 16 years began to fail. On June 25, the couple’s 24th wedding anniversary, a cancerous section of his only kidney was removed to save his life.

Taking care of his wife and son will be difficult for him considering he is healing himself, but the former construction worker said his wife took care of him and his son16 years ago, and now it is his turn.

“At this point, I’m doing fine,” the father said.

http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2007/10/21/top_stories/9586.txt