Teagan is a vibrant 4 year old little girl who loves going to Junior Kindergarten, loves doing puzzles, loves to play sports and loves to dance. She is funny, sly, intelligent, and brave. Teagan is the strongest person I have ever met. But that’s easy to say, I’m her Mother.
Teagan was born when I was only 24 weeks and 4 days into my pregnancy. Her birth story was by far different than the birth “plan” I had in place at the time. After numerous attempts at resuscitation after her birth, her father came in to say his last goodbyes. The moment he touched her, her stats quickly lit up like a Christmas tree! She survived.
The next 72 hours were the hardest as Teagan developed Acute Oliguric Renal Failure and would not pass urine for the longest time. She finally did, two days after birth, but her tiny kidneys took a great big hit as a result.
Teagan went on to spend 117 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Kingston General Hospital. She had a number of challenges during those 117 days but she always seemed to beat the odds no matter how far her tiny little body pushed them.
Today, Teagan excels in life with family, friends and community. She does so despite her additional diagnoses of Cerebral Palsy and Hearing Loss.
For the last 4 years, Teagan has been visiting her nephrologist on a monthly basis at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and she endures numerous blood draws to monitor her kidney status. Being diagnosed with Stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease, Teagan has only 16% kidney function which means her body is at high risk for developing high blood pressure, cardiac disease, and edema just to name a few.
Basically put, a person cannot live without their kidneys. So, the treatment for this condition is to either do dialysis or have a kidney transplant. Teagan will need to start one of these treatments once she falls below 15% function. That day is coming very soon.
Teagan will be placed on the Deceased Donor list as soon as her kidney function falls below 15% which will means she’ll have reached Stage 5 or End Stage Renal Failure. At this time, she will also be prepared to start dialysis treatments. In order to start dialysis, she will have to receive a surgery at CHEO to insert a dialysis catheter. Once this catheter heals and is ready to use, she will have to stay in hospital for as much as 3 months (but no less than one month) so that her doctors can ensure the right dose of dialysis and monitor her until they are a comfortable discharging her to receive dialysis treatments at home on a daily basis.
This will be very taxing on our family. It will mean lost wages and we will have to find accommodations away from our home for those 3 months she will have to be at CHEO. We are asking for your support to pay for the travel costs that will most certainly tax our one income family. There will also be expenses involved in receiving a kidney transplant at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto when that day finally arrives as well.
We do not know how long she will have to wait for a deceased organ donation that will match her blood and tissue type. It could happen immediately upon being placed on the list or it could take as long at 8-12 months.
Alternatively, a living donation has a better success rate and also provides the advantage of being able to plan for the transplant operation. It could even help Teagan avoid dialysis altogether.
If you are interested in learning more about Living Kidney Donation please visit:
https://www.blood.ca/en/organs-tissues/living-kidney-donation
If you are interested finding out what it would take to donate a kidney to Teagan, you may contact the Living Donor Program at the number below:
Living Donor Program
Toronto General Hospital
Phone: 416-340-4577
Please note that only those with an O+ blood type can donate to Teagan but there are many more other children who need donors as well.
For more information on the differences between living and deceased donation visit:
http://www.phoenixchildrens.org/medical-specialties/kidney-transplants/types-kidney-donors
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story. Please consider donating but if you can’t do that please share our story so that we can reach as many people as possible.
Sincerely,
The Champlin and O’Brien Family
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