Kidney Transplant for Baby Emily

Baby Emily was born April 15th, 2016. She was born prematurely without functioning kidneys. Her mother Claudia and father Scott were given little hope. She had several surgeries within her first weeks of life; one surgery to drain fluid from her kidneys and two other surgeries to place temporary peritoneal dialysis catheters. The first dialysis catheter was a temporary rigged up catheter to hold her over until the special order mini catheter was received weeks later. Emily's parents were told daily by the hospital staff "prepare yourself for the worst," "this is just buying her time," "we have never had a baby leave NICU on dialysis." Emily's parents were not willing to accept that there was no hope. They put their faith in God and in a pediatric nephrologist who assured them these interventions could be successful. After 4.5 months in the NICU at UMC, with her family by her side, baby Emily went home. Amongst massive equipment/supply deliveries, peritoneal dialysis training, and very stressfull dialysis equipment malfunctions they were home together as a family at last.

Baby Emily spends 8 to 12 hours every night hooked up to dialysis. She's often fluid overloaded and very uncomfortable but has a smile that lights up the room. It's been a long haul to get to this point where she finally weighs enough to be out on the transplant list. Her family has packed up and travelled from Las Vegas, NV to Stanford, CA several times to get baby Emily on the transplant list. They were just told that it could be 3 weeks or months before they get the call for transplant. When they get the call they must make their way to Stanford as quickly as possible and will be there for 2-3 months after transplant. The reality of what is and is not covered with medical insurance for life saving treatment and the financial burden of paying for dialysis and medications has been eye opening and overwhelming. Being off of work for several months will add an entirely new financial burden. We are hoping that this go find me account will relieve some of the stress these parents are under so they can focus solely on caring for and being with their baby girl Emily.

Thank you for reading this. Please donate and/or Share Baby Emily's kidney transplant journey.

#TransplantForBabyEmily #BabyEmilysKidney








Getting her final tests before being put on the kidney transplant list.