Boy's Christmas Wish: Kidney For Grandma

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Boy's Christmas Wish: Kidney For Grandma
Diabetes Takes Toll On Bev Bellopatrick's Kidneys

By Lance Hernandez, 7NEWS Reporter
November 22, 2007

AURORA, Colo. -- Nick Bellopatrick is like many 9-year-old boys. It's not even December, and he's already written a list of what he wants for Christmas.

At the top of that list is a kidney for his grandmother.

Bev Bellopatrick has been suffering from diabetes for 40 years. She's lost the use of both kidneys.

"I've been on dialysis for three years," the Aurora grandmother said. "It's frustrating."

Twice Bellopatrick thought she'd found a matching donor. Twice they proved to be incompatible.

"My son was going to give me a kidney," Bellopatrick said. "He tested and we'd already planned a date (for an operation) and on my last test, we found we weren't compatible."

Bev has antigens in her blood that make matching up with donors a little more difficult.

"They said his kidney would have gone black in a matter of seconds if they'd given it to me," Bellopatrick said.

"As a neighbor, you look across the street and you see the ambulance in the middle of the night and wonder, 'What's happened now?'" said Cathy Sanderson.

When Sanderson learned she and Bev were both O-positive, she agreed to undergo a donor test. She, too, was incompatible.

"I was kind of surprised at how disappointed I was. I thought I would be relieved that I didn't have to do this," Sanderson said. "But instead, I felt great disappointment that I wasn't going to be able to help Bev out."

When Nick is at his grandmother's house, he keeps her active by engaging her in a game of baseball. She sits on the sofa and pitches to him in the living room.

He said he hopes his grandmother finds a new kidney soon.

"Maybe when we play baseball here, she could stand up and not sit on the couch. Maybe if she got better, she could walk a bit better," Nick said.

Bev's husband, George, said the hardest part about the ordeal is that he can't be there all the time. He's a cargo pilot who often flies around the world.

"I constantly think about it," George said. "But I have to work."

On Thursday morning, while most Coloradans are busy celebrating Thanksgiving, George will be taking Bev to the hospital for more dialysis.

"She's got to be there by 8:00," George said. "She'll get out by noon."

Bellopatrick is on a waiting list for a kidney at Porter Hospital.

Family members said her insurance will pay for a transplant and for the donor's care.

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