Father prepared to give his son a kidney

[okarol]

Father prepared to give his son a kidney
December 29, 2007

By Mary Jimenez
maryjimenez@gannett.com

At 17, Nicholas "Nick" McBride's world is still as innocent and simplified as a young child.

He gives strangers hugs, loves animals and can spend hours out in the yard playing in the dirt.

"Some people find him very charming," Perry McBride said of his son, who has Down syndrome. "We think he's a pretty neat kid."

So how do you tell a teen with a child's level of comprehension his only kidney is failing and his father is going to give him one of his?

It's an inevitable duty that is right around the corner for Nick's parents.

A date for a kidney transplant may be set as soon as next week. Nick's father is a match, and all that is left is for doctors to give the go-ahead on Perry McBride's health.

"Even now, I could be kicked out as a donor. But at this stage, I'm thinking it's a 90 percent go," said the 51-year-old, who's been preparing for this day for years by making changes in his diet and staying healthy for his son. "I'm eager to get it done. We've been teetering on the edge of needing this done for a year. And we'd like to do it before Nick has to go on dialysis."

The kidney is an organ that filters toxins and waste from the blood and excretes them, along with water, as urine. Most humans are born with two but only need one healthy kidney to live normally.

Nick has one kidney, but it has only functioned about 30 percent of what it should the past 17 years. His health over the years has been managed through multiple medications daily. But those medications won't be enough when his kidney fails.

"The doctors feel like it won't make it till summer," said Susie McBride, Nick's mother, who knows she will soon have to sit Nick down to prepare him for the major event.

There will be pain, monitoring machines, new medication and the strangeness of a hospital room to prepare her son for.

"I think on some level he knows. But he frets about unknown medical procedures, so I'm going to wait until we have a date set for sure," said Susie McBride, recalling a recent visit to Children's Hospital in New Orleans, where the transplant will take place. "He kept asking, 'Mama, the doctors are only talking, right? You won't let them hurt me.' I had to reassure him for five hours."

The family has been prepared for this moment for a long time. The decision for Perry McBride to be the donor was also decided long ago. He never gave the decision a second thought when the family learned of their choices.

One choice was that Nick would go on dialysis and eventually need a transplant later.

The second choice was that Nick could have a pre-emptive transplant by a live donor before dialysis was needed.

Dialysis is an artificial means of cleaning the blood of toxins and waste. It can be done two ways, either cleaning the blood outside the body with a machine or inside the body by pumping the abdominal cavity with a sterile solution to absorb the waste products before it's pumped out. Both methods consume numerous hours of lying still each week.

"Because of his mental disability, we just don't think he'd be a good candidate for dialysis," Susie McBride said. "Now we're trying to get it done before we hit the critical stage."

Eight years ago, the family was facing the same decision and found out then that Perry McBride is a suitable donor.

"We didn't get this far because they were able to control it with medications," Perry McBride said. "And we tried to postpone it as long as possible so he could grow and get stronger."

Perry McBride admits there is a little apprehension about the surgery on his part.

"I just try to move past that. I'm more focused on him."

Family, friends and Nick's school, Youree Drive Middle, have held numerous fundraisers and rallied their support for the family.

The McBrides are grateful. They are also optimistic.

"Because his dad will be the donor, that makes it a really good prognosis for a long-term success," Susie McBride said, "if we can get past those first few days."

RELATED LINKS
March of Dimes: www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1214.asp
National Institutes of Health, Medline Plus: www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/downsyndrome.html
National Kidney Foundation: www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=39
National Association for Down Syndrome: www.nads.org/

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