Abuse victim needs kidney

Abuse victim needs kidney
Osborne suffered at parents' hands

BY MEALAND RAGLAND-HUDGINS • MRAGLAND@DNJ.COM • October 27, 2008

LA VERGNE — A champion for child abuse rights now faces another fight related to his health.

Joshua Osborne undergoes dialysis seven days a week and is in need of a kidney. The kidney failure occurred 18 months ago, a week after his high school graduation.
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Now 19, he was found chained to a bed at his parents' Lebanon home four years ago, malnourished and weighing 49 pounds. James Osborne III and Christie Osborne, his father and stepmother, were sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted last year of attempted aggravated child neglect. The stepmother has since been released.

With some help from his aunt, Tammy Dozier, the young man circulated a petition to strengthen child abuse laws. Earlier this year, Gov. Phil Bredesen signed the Joshua Osborne Law into effect, adding starvation and dehydration to the list of child abuse charges.

Dozier said the family had hoped to have a kidney transplant done earlier this year. They have not been able to find a match.

"A lot of it has to do with his medication (from a heart defect) and some has to do with the abuse. We'll never know how much is because of the abuse," she said.

All of Osborne's known relatives have been checked to see if they could be a potential match. His birth mother, Dozier said, was a match but was excluded because of a heart condition. She said the family is working with the local chapter of the National Kidney Foundation to find a match.

"We're not going to do any (donor drives) because we don't want to make it all about Joshua. There are people who have been on the list much longer than he has. We just want people to sign their donor cards," she said.

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