Support for Odis Thew

Update from March 2023:

Hi, I'm Jemma and I'm a friend of Meg and Richard Thew. You may have heard the Thew family have been going through a lot lately with their youngest son, Odis. This fundraiser has been set up to help support the Thew family while they navigate the sudden change of plans for Odis' health.

Odis was born prematurely 33w5d at JHH and was diagnosed with Kidney Failure due to birth defect. In the past 16 months they have been working closely with his teams to support Odis at home and maintain his Kidney function whilst being a growing family.

Odis recently took a turn for the worst when he was hit with a virus and went into cardiac arrest. His Kidney function is not recovering like they hoped and he will remain on daily dialysis in Sydney which is 3.5hrs away from home whilst he awaits a Kidney transplant from either Dad or Mum who are both compatible for donating. Along with all of this, Odis is battling a lung infection, a UTI and had another seizure and went into cardiac arrest again on Monday 13th March.

Unfortunately, the further tests that are required for the donors is going to take some time to be completed.

They have suddenly again had to relocate their family and be living away from home, family and close support for a few months while Odis receives his dialysis.

Strength personified. The best way to describe this family.

Odis' Go Fund Me is still up and running and Meg and Rich need all the help we can give them. If you can donate, please know it will be a lifeline for this beautiful family.

At home, we feel so so helpless. But let's rally together and give them the support of our village. The next few months are going to be TOUGH. Emotionally, physically but also financially.

A message from Meg:

Unfortunately Odis' kidneys have not and will not recover, although he may look good at times he will not recover from this. The last week has been the scariest of our lives and extremely traumatising for Odis and us.

Odis is now having Hemodialysis, this machine will keep him alive until his transplant. The goal is to get him to only require it 3 days a week and then we can head over to our new home at Ronald McDonald House for a few months. We aim for Odis to have a kidney transplant in May or June and hopefully be back home around July or August. There are alot of things to get done to prepare both donor and Odis and will be able to go home once everyone is well again. We know plans can change, as we certainly weren't planning on dialysis but that is our goal that we are all working on and something for us to look forward to during this time.

Richard and I are absolutely speechless and quite overwhelmed again on the love, support and generosity people have given us already. We don't really know what to say but thankyou all for your support. It just takes a little bit of the stress off while we try and figure out how this is going to work for our family each week and for the few months post transplant.

At the moment Odis is stable but still keeping everyone on their toes as we have almost lost him twice now, which has shaken us to our core. We will remain in hospital for the time being until he is stable enough on the days he doesn't have dialysis and when we feel ready to be able to care for him 50m away from the hospital.

Please also know you can donate to Ronald MacDonald House. That place is amazing! It helps so many other families who have very sick kids also.

Again thankyou all,

Meg, Rich, Finn and Odis. Xx

~

December 2021:

Hi, I'm Jemma and I'm a friend of Meg and Richard Thew. You may have heard the Thew family have been going through a lot lately including the premature birth and terrifying first few weeks of life of their son, Odis.

 

This fundraiser has been set up to help support the Thew family. In addition to the frequent trips to Sydney for his ongoing medical care, Odis has many surgeries ahead of him and the plan is hopefully either Richard or Meg will be donating their kidney to him.

 

~

 

A message from Meg:

"Odis was born at 33w5d at JHH and was diagnosed with Kidney Failure. Odi required respiratory support being premature but has since weaned off this and doing so well. We spent the first few days being told he would not survive. The most gut wrenching and painful period of our lives. Odi had 2 surgeries to relieve blockages that effected his kidneys and to see if they could save the 1 partially working Kidney. Once Odi was stable we were transferred to Westmead Children's hospital when he was 3 weeks old. 36w5d gestation. .

 

At the moment Odis' levels have improved but are not in normal rage and will never be in normal range. Odis will require to be closely monitored and medicated to give him optimal quality of life. This will not be the case forever and he will require a Kidney transplant once he is big enough to which we hope Rich and I can donate one of ours.

 

On top of this he also has an imperforated anus which will require surgery or multiple surgeries to fix as well.

 

We are still unsure what issues and blockages he does have and what they can fix as he is still to little for them to look at it. We are just hoping it can be fixed and that his vesicostomy, colostomy and urostomy can all be reversed.

 

He will be required to have multiple scans, check ups, medication and a strict diet for the rest of his life. As the only peadiatric renal team is located at Westmead Children's hospital, this is where we will be required to go for every appt and check up he needs.

 

Our families life has been disrupted severely and have had to be apart due to COVID restrictions which has been the most difficult thing for us.

 

All we want is Odi to have quality of life with his family by his side. "

 

~

 

Though hard with the COVID-19 restrictions and distance from home, Meg and Richard have received much love and support throughout this ordeal, and are grateful to friends and family near and far. As they prepare for their future of medical intervention for Odis and the parent who donates their kidney we'd like to do all we can to smooth their way and make it easier for them to stay together and get any extra support they need.

 

Love Friends and Family of Meg, Richard, Finn and Odis.