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| Children's Hospital in Seattle, WA |
I have been a kidney failure patient my entire life. When I was in middle school I started peritoneal dialysis which I continued for two years. My first year of High School I received my first transplant from my dad at Children’s Hospital in Seattle, Washington.
My transplant lasted for seven years before it failed and needed to be removed. I was on hemodialysis for four years. In 2009 my wife and I decided to look for more options and I was accepted as a patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2009 I was almost able to recieve a kidney transplant from my mother using plasmapheresis, but it was deturmined that even with the treatments my body was too sensitized to the kidney and it wouldn't be a viable option. In 2010 I got the opportunity to get a transplant as part of Hopkins’ Paired Exchange transplant program.
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| Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD |
Once we arrived however I was diagnosed with acute heart and lung failure and had to be pulled from the surgery. I was admitted in to the hospital for a five days under intensive watch while they worked to bring my blood pressure back under control. My heard and lungs were permanently damaged due to being overworked for so long. My wife and I were so impressed with the level of care at Johns Hopkins that we decided to move 3000 miles to Baltimore in order to be permanent patients at Hopkins.
My wife and I recently took part in a large domino transplant at John's Hopkins Hospital (partnering with other hospitals around the nation). We had the the surgeries on March 8th, 2011. Both of our operations went very well and we are both extremely greatfull to have had the opportunity to take part in such an amazing program.
