Love for Liam

My name is Paula and I work with Liam’s mom Kelly. Per Liam’s Caring Bridge: On Saturday January 7th, Liam had a fever and GI bug. By Monday the 8th, he seemed like he was feeling better. He played with his toys and ate 1/2 of a pizza and drank water all day. We kept him home from school on Tuesday to make sure he was still good and was eating more. He slept most of Tuesday. When he got up, he did not want to eat or drink. He would dry heave when trying to drink. I took him to urgent care. He was diagnosed with strep, which I found odd as he did not have a sore throat. They gave him an antiemetic and did a PO challenge in the clinic, and he passed. We went home. On Wednesday morning when he got up, he did not go straight the bathroom like usual. We asked him if he had to go and he said no. So Jay and I pushed the fluids until he had to pee. I had him pee in a cup so I could see what it looked like. He produced a very small amount of brown urine, so we headed to ED for what I thought would be sever dehydration. Labs were obtained and fluids started. Liam is in acute renal failure. His creatinine was 9.0 (normal under 0.65)with a BUN in the 130's (normal under 17). Attempts were made to transfer him to Green Bay, but they do not have a pediatric nephrologist, therefore he has been transferred to UW-Madion Children's Hospital. When we got here, his labs had improved. It was hoped that with hydration his kidneys would respond, but they did not. Thursday morning his labs worsened. He had a renal ultrasound, and from my understanding, it was essentially unremarkable. He does have a LOT of inflammation. He is on high dose steroids to help with this. On Thursday, he went to surgery and had a hemodialysis catheter placed and started dialysis Thursday afternoon. He had additional runs of dialysis on Friday and Saturday. His BUN was 56 on Sunday and since he was assymptomatic, the team opted not to do dialysis to see how his body responds. His labs this morning broke my heart. BUN 105-anything over 100 he is going to feel crummy and he had a rough morning. He had a 3 hour run of dialysis this morning. His labs also indicated that he is anemic (our kidneys produce red blood cells and his are not working). He was given an iron infusion today and started on a medication to help produce more RBC's. He became hypertensive a couple days ago and has been started on BP meds along with many MANY other meds for renal patients. This has been struggle. He is on a renal diet (which is not very kid friendly) and a fluid restriction.

Autoimmune disorders have essentially been ruled out. They believe it is either MPGN or PSGN, which needs a biopsy to confirm. He is scheduled for a kidney biopsy on Wednesday.

Liam has only produced 2ml of urine (twice) since being here. We are praying that the steroids kick in and his kidney function returns!!!

Liam has a long road ahead and all funds will go towards medical bills and travel expenses. In addition Liam has an older sister and 2 brothers at home who miss him dearly. His dad Jay has been driving back and forth trying to keep things together at home.