Friday, July 17, 2015
Family Seeking Life-Saving Transplant For Three-Year-Old
“He’s my miracle baby,” says local resident Kimberly Rose of her three-year-old son Hunter who is awaiting a life-saving kidney transplant.
Although his twin brother did not survive, Hunter was born prematurely, weighing less than four pounds. At the time of his birth his organs were not completely developed, and at this point he is experiencing kidney failure.
“He has hydronephosis, which is water on the kidneys, cystic dysplasia, which is cysts all over his kidneys, and his kidneys are too small to filter the blood in his body. They’re not growing because he’s not growing,” mom Kimberly Rose explained.
“When he was five months old he was laying on the couch and you could literally feel the heat coming off of him. We checked his temp and it was 104.7. We got him to Vanderbilt and they found out he had aspiration pneumonia. That’s because his esophagus wasn’t formed well, so now he has a feeding tube. Being premature he wasn’t able to grasp onto the bottle. Now he drinks water out of a bottle. That’s the only thing he will take by mouth and it took us forever to get him to drink that.”
Grandmother Yulonda Rose added, “We try to get him to eat, but he pushes it back and won’t take it….They’re keeping an eye on his heart, too, because he has a heart murmur.”
Kimberly explained, “The aortic root didn’t close off like it was supposed to, so they’re going to watch that until he’s five. If it doesn’t eventually close off it will require surgery.”
The most immediate problem to be addressed, they said, is Hunter’s kidney failure. “I did a work up kit to see if I’m a donor,” said Kimberly. “I am. I have all the markers that you need with the same blood type. But they won’t let me be his donor because we don’t have the means to have someone come in and take care of Hunter and I after the surgery. My mom has multiple sclerosis so she’s not able to get him to Nashville if he had an emergency. And we don’t even have transportation to get us there…I’m the perfect donor, but because I’m the sole provider they won’t let me donate.”
Should a donor kidney come through, Kimberly said, “He’ll be on twenty different immunosuppressant drugs afterwards.”
So, for now, the family waits. Hunter takes daily injections for his severe anemia, as well as injections that will, hopefully, spur his growth. “The kidney problems cause him not to grow,” said Kimberly. “He’s not even big enough for the transplant. He only weighs twenty-three pounds and seven ounces. He needs to weight thirty-five to have the transplant.”
So while they wait the family gets by the best they can. This is often difficult due to their limited income. “We’ve had to scrape up pennies to get his medicine. We’ve collected aluminum cans. We have tried to do donations at places like Holland’s on the square and we did raise over $500. His medicine costs approximately $100 a month. We have to buy gas and pay for our trips to Vanderbilt. Yes, the five hundred and something dollars helped. It went toward Hunter, but we didn’t get to save it for the transplant because we had to get his medicine and he needed to get to Nashville.”
In an effort to assist the family with the overwhelming medical and care expenses a trust fund has been established at First Volunteer Bank in Lawrenceburg. Anyone may stop by and donate. Checks should be made out to Hunter Rose, and bank personnel will take it from there.
Show your support by going to this link: http://www.gofundme.com/zgxrt4
Kimberly requests prayers for Hunter and has a word of advice for all parents. “Cherish your babies! Even if they’re asleep, still kiss them goodnight.”
“And tell them you love them every day,” added Yulonda.
