Medical and home care
Donation protected
My name is Yannick Napier and I have End Stage Renal Disease. I am blessed to be 35 years old even though due to a birth abnormality, I was not supposed to live past 7 years old. I was born in Jamaica, West Indies and first hospitalized at 5 days old with what was thought to be just a urinary tract infection from a normal bacteria found in adults from the West Indies, (WI). After spending my first three months of life in the hospital and having hundreds of tests performed on me, doctors and nurses finally found and diagnosed me with posterior urethral valve disease. This is a rare condition which inverts the urethral valves. These valves control the flow of urine from the kidneys to the bladder. As a result of the inversion, urine continued to back up into my kidneys causing reoccurring urinary tract infections (UTIs). Unfortunately, this rare disease claims the lives of many children under the age of 7 years old in third world countries like Jamaica. Once I was diagnosed with posterior urethral valve disease my life became a battle against time.
With time not being on our side, my parents became my superheroes by being proactive in the fight against this disease; going as far as performing medical treatments in order to help empty my bladder to prevent further UTIs and the resulting damage. My parents were taught how to properly perform straight catheterizations; a technique used to aid in emptying the bladder. They performed these treatments three times a day until I was 8 years old and able to do it myself.
From being in and out of the hospital for short term and long term stays, mostly months at a time, I was unable to complete a full school year. I missed countless days and lost out on multiple childhood experiences. With kidney failure being imminent my parents made the decision to seek more advanced medical options and brought me to the United States. Upon arrival I was seen by medical professionals who informed my mother that had I been born in the United States this disease would have been prevented. However, at this time, the damage was so severe the doctors only had one choice; that was to cordorize the urethral valves away. My parents had a tough decision to make due to the fact that this procedure could have prevented me from ever having children; (luckily I am now the proud father of my 6 month old boy, little bundle of joy, Marley). My parents made the decision to go through with the cordorization procedure in order to save my life. As a result of the procedure the frequency of the UTIs were lessened which prolonged the inevitable End Stage Renal Disease diagnoses.
During my senior year of high school I began to notice I was gaining weight and feeling very ill. After a month of these tremors, chills, and nausea I went to the emergency room at Yale. The doctors performed multiple rounds of labs and upon receiving results, rushed into my room to perform an emergency dialysis treatment via access through an artery in my groin because I could’ve stroked out at any moment being that my labs were negatively off the charts. I was then informed that I was currently experiencing symptoms of End Stage Renal Disease. It was 2005, I was 19 years old in my senior year of high school, trying to persevere through the end of my educational journey and again told by doctors I may not live much longer without treatment or transplant.
I was put on the kidney transplant list while receiving life saving dialysis treatments in-center three times a week. I waited only 2 years and received my first kidney donation in 2007. I received a cadaver kidney which I was told could last between 7-10 years. It lasted 5 years and in 2012, that transplanted kidney failed which put me back on the transplant list and back to in-center dialysis treatments. I have been on three different types of dialysis treatments; in-center dialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and now home hemo-dialysis.
My fiance and I have been running home hemo-dialysis treatments for the past two and half years. We have lost countless hours of sleep and missed out on many things that couples do because of my disease. Being that we have been friends for 16 years, since high school, we both knew the situation we were getting into before taking on the responsibility of performing these treatments in our home. We did not anticipate how hard it would be to continue to run home hemo-dialysis treatments with an infant. Last summer, when we found out we were going to have a baby, my fiance didn’t pause for a second. We continued running home treatments until her due date when we went to the hospital. Two days later, we had our miracle baby boy, Marley. He is my pride and joy and I am proud to be his father; especially because my cordorization procedure I had as a child could have prevented me from ever having children of my own. Unfortunately, treatments have gotten harder because Marley is a very active 6 month old and due to the current coronavirus pandemic and for medical safety purposes, we cannot ask nor have family members over to entertain our boy while we run 4 hour treatments 4 days a week.
I need to be here for my family. I need to teach my boy how to ride a bike, how to treat a lady, how to shave; all the things a boy should learn from his father. I have been positive and in high spirits throughout my treacherous disease filled life and have never felt the need to ask for help until now. I love my family and my boy more than life itself and this is why I’m reaching out to finally tell my story and ask for a living kidney donor. A living kidney donation can give me my life back. With a living kidney donor, I would have the pleasure to ensure a lifetime of seeing all of Marley’s firsts and watching him grow into the generous, smart, well-rounded young man his mother and I will raise him to be.
It is much harder to find a donor for a second transplant, due to the antibodies of my own and the antibodies from the first transplanted kidney that is still inside of me, which continues to leave me unable to work for a much longer period of time.
Our situation is urgent- high priority!
Please, if you have ever considered being an organ donor, call the kidney transplant donation number 1-866-925-3897 and tell them you want to be tested to be a living kidney donor for Yannick Napier.
If you are not able to donate life, please consider donating here to help clear some medical expenses and help out my family.
If you’d rather not donate or can’t, please just tell my story and help spread the word so we can find a donor and I can get my life back for my son!
THANK YOU!
With time not being on our side, my parents became my superheroes by being proactive in the fight against this disease; going as far as performing medical treatments in order to help empty my bladder to prevent further UTIs and the resulting damage. My parents were taught how to properly perform straight catheterizations; a technique used to aid in emptying the bladder. They performed these treatments three times a day until I was 8 years old and able to do it myself.
From being in and out of the hospital for short term and long term stays, mostly months at a time, I was unable to complete a full school year. I missed countless days and lost out on multiple childhood experiences. With kidney failure being imminent my parents made the decision to seek more advanced medical options and brought me to the United States. Upon arrival I was seen by medical professionals who informed my mother that had I been born in the United States this disease would have been prevented. However, at this time, the damage was so severe the doctors only had one choice; that was to cordorize the urethral valves away. My parents had a tough decision to make due to the fact that this procedure could have prevented me from ever having children; (luckily I am now the proud father of my 6 month old boy, little bundle of joy, Marley). My parents made the decision to go through with the cordorization procedure in order to save my life. As a result of the procedure the frequency of the UTIs were lessened which prolonged the inevitable End Stage Renal Disease diagnoses.
During my senior year of high school I began to notice I was gaining weight and feeling very ill. After a month of these tremors, chills, and nausea I went to the emergency room at Yale. The doctors performed multiple rounds of labs and upon receiving results, rushed into my room to perform an emergency dialysis treatment via access through an artery in my groin because I could’ve stroked out at any moment being that my labs were negatively off the charts. I was then informed that I was currently experiencing symptoms of End Stage Renal Disease. It was 2005, I was 19 years old in my senior year of high school, trying to persevere through the end of my educational journey and again told by doctors I may not live much longer without treatment or transplant.
I was put on the kidney transplant list while receiving life saving dialysis treatments in-center three times a week. I waited only 2 years and received my first kidney donation in 2007. I received a cadaver kidney which I was told could last between 7-10 years. It lasted 5 years and in 2012, that transplanted kidney failed which put me back on the transplant list and back to in-center dialysis treatments. I have been on three different types of dialysis treatments; in-center dialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and now home hemo-dialysis.
My fiance and I have been running home hemo-dialysis treatments for the past two and half years. We have lost countless hours of sleep and missed out on many things that couples do because of my disease. Being that we have been friends for 16 years, since high school, we both knew the situation we were getting into before taking on the responsibility of performing these treatments in our home. We did not anticipate how hard it would be to continue to run home hemo-dialysis treatments with an infant. Last summer, when we found out we were going to have a baby, my fiance didn’t pause for a second. We continued running home treatments until her due date when we went to the hospital. Two days later, we had our miracle baby boy, Marley. He is my pride and joy and I am proud to be his father; especially because my cordorization procedure I had as a child could have prevented me from ever having children of my own. Unfortunately, treatments have gotten harder because Marley is a very active 6 month old and due to the current coronavirus pandemic and for medical safety purposes, we cannot ask nor have family members over to entertain our boy while we run 4 hour treatments 4 days a week.
I need to be here for my family. I need to teach my boy how to ride a bike, how to treat a lady, how to shave; all the things a boy should learn from his father. I have been positive and in high spirits throughout my treacherous disease filled life and have never felt the need to ask for help until now. I love my family and my boy more than life itself and this is why I’m reaching out to finally tell my story and ask for a living kidney donor. A living kidney donation can give me my life back. With a living kidney donor, I would have the pleasure to ensure a lifetime of seeing all of Marley’s firsts and watching him grow into the generous, smart, well-rounded young man his mother and I will raise him to be.
It is much harder to find a donor for a second transplant, due to the antibodies of my own and the antibodies from the first transplanted kidney that is still inside of me, which continues to leave me unable to work for a much longer period of time.
Our situation is urgent- high priority!
Please, if you have ever considered being an organ donor, call the kidney transplant donation number 1-866-925-3897 and tell them you want to be tested to be a living kidney donor for Yannick Napier.
If you are not able to donate life, please consider donating here to help clear some medical expenses and help out my family.
If you’d rather not donate or can’t, please just tell my story and help spread the word so we can find a donor and I can get my life back for my son!
THANK YOU!
Organizer and beneficiary
Yannick Napier
Organizer
West Haven, CT
Katelyn Hickman
Beneficiary
