January 4, 2009
New kidney needed: Two-year-old was born with one kidney, which is failing
By ASHLEY ANTHONY
aanthony@jacksonsun.com
HUMBOLDT - Mary Brown will ask anyone to pray for her adopted 2-year-old son, who was born with kidney failure.
"I do believe in prayer," Brown said. "I pray that he will find a donor, a good match that he won't have any problems with. Anyone who has a prayer list at church, please put my son on it."
Her son, Matthew, was born with one kidney. His kidney functions at about 15 percent, Brown said.
"He was born with renal failure," Brown said. "Gradually, it's gotten worse. This is critical. His kidney is just about gone."
Matthew's doctor at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, Tray Hunley, said it is not that unusual for people to be born with only one kidney. And if the kidney works normally, people can live their entire lives without realizing they only have one.
However, Matthew's sole kidney does not have enough filters to operate normally.
"If there aren't enough filters, the kidney will deteriorate with time," said Hunley, who is an assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of pediatric nephrology. "And although it works for a while, it gradually peters out."
Matthew's kidney has been getting worse and has reached the point where he will either need a transplant or need to go on dialysis, Hunley said.
Since Matthew has yet to receive a transplant, he has to begin peritoneal dialysis treatment, which requires him first to have surgery this month, Brown said.
"I was nervous in the beginning when his doctors told me this," Brown said. "I wasn't quite ready, but I know I have to be ready because it's either this or Matthew won't be here at all. We've got to do everything we can to keep the kidney he has working as long as possible."
Matthew is scheduled to have surgery at 7:30 a.m. Monday at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Brown expects to stay in Nashville for about two weeks following the surgery. While there, she will be trained on how to handle issues related to Matthew's dialysis treatment at home.
"Fortunately, I have a daughter who lives in Nashville, so I'm going to stay with her and at the hospital with Matthew," Brown said.
Brown, who was divorced after 20 years of marriage, has nine children, four of whom are adopted, including Matthew, her youngest. The others are 12, 14 and 15, and she's cared for them since they were little, she said. Her five other children are adults.
Before Brown adopted Matthew, she was his foster parent.
"I remember picking him up at Jackson(-Madison County) General Hospital," Brown said. "He was 4 pounds, 4 ounces. We fell in love with him."
Matthew, who family members call "Bubba," has been through a lot, Brown said.
He was born prematurely with high blood pressure and gastroesophageal reflux, a condition in which food or liquid travels backward from the stomach to the esophagus, sometimes causing heartburn and other symptoms, according to MedlinePlus, an online medical encyclopedia.
"Matthew's reflux became so severe, it resulted in his intestines having to be wrapped around his esophagus. That surgery is called a Nissen," Brown said. "He takes numerous medications daily. He doesn't really eat by mouth."
Matthew is fed at night using a tube placed in the stomach through a small incision in the abdomen. He has trouble walking on his own because his legs aren't strong, Brown said. He uses a walker.
"He goes to the Kiwanis Center for physical therapy once a week," Brown said.
Matthew is also cared for by a nurse at home. Annissa Smith, who works with CareAll Home Health Co., has taken care of Matthew for two years. She's usually with him eight hours a day.
"Although he's sick, he's happy and playful," Smith said.
Matthew likes to sing, play with his family and watch the Nickelodeon cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants."
Smith, who handles Matthew's feeding and medicine, also has tried to find him a kidney donor but hasn't had any luck.
"Renal failure is life threatening," Smith said. "Dialysis can only take him so far. It's so important that he gets a kidney."
According to Hunley, kidneys get rid of waste, extra water, extra minerals and the nitrogen in protein. They also send signals to the bone marrow when more red blood cells are needed and help to activate vitamin D. If they do not operate properly, toxic waste builds up in the body.
Hunley said Matthew's type of kidney failure is one of the most common types, but still only about one in 10,000 people has it.
Brown said someone who was interested in donating a kidney to Matthew changed his mind because diabetes runs in his family.
According to the Web site for the Mayo Clinic, diabetes as well as some forms of cancer, intravenous drug use and certain infectious diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis are conditions that exclude people from being kidney donors.
General requirements of living kidney donors are as follows:
# Must be between the ages of 18 and 70.
# Be in good general health.
# Have normal kidney function and anatomy, as determined during a medical evaluation process.
Brown said finding Matthew a donor has been difficult, especially since he's not related to her family.
"His blood type is A positive, and we're B," Brown said. "Of course I couldn't give it to him, anyway, because I have high blood pressure. We want to find him a good match because you can get a donor, and the body can reject it.
"We want his body to receive it," she said.
Hunley said a donor match must have the same blood type as Matthew.
"Fortunately, Matthew is a type A positive, which is the most common blood type," Hunley said.
He will be placed on a donor list and matched up with any possible donors, which will likely take six months to a year, he said.
Sharing Matthew's story should help raise awareness about the need for kidney donors, Brown said.
"If they don't give to my baby, maybe they'll give to someone else in need," she said. "I just want Matthew to have the chance to live a normal life."
Jackson Sun reporter Mariann Martin contributed to this report.
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- Ashley Anthony,
425-9631
Additional Facts
What to know
For more information about donating a kidney to Matthew Brown, call the Vanderbilt Kidney/Pancreas Transplant program at (615) 936-0695 or toll free at 1 (866) 748-1491. Then select option two. Tray Hunley, Matthew's doctor at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, said Vanderbilt will soon start offering a clinic one day a month in Jackson for kidney patients.
http://tinyurl.com/83ue6jHere's a photo of the child. Looks like he needs a walker at his tender age because of his ESRD:
http://tinyurl.com/7m3mvrIt reminds me a bit of the 1950s before the Salk vaccine, when young children were still being crippled by polio.
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