Hello, my name is Morgan Pickett and I am going to tell you a true story about my husband, Jonah Pickett and the things that he has gone through. I have all the at first hand informaion since this has all happened. He is 29 years old and not in the best of health. Before any of this, he was in the best of health, but latley he has had a rough go-around with his health. When he was 24 years old he was in complete renal failure (kidney failure-both kidneys, at 24 years old!!!). It had all started in June of 2009, when he complained of a headache, and that his eyes hurt. You could tell there was something wrong with his eyes when he looked from side to side. Then the blood vessels in his eyes began to bulge. When his face swelled up, I took him into those emergency clinics and all they gave him were water pills and then told him to follow up with his regular doctor, so that's what we did on June 7, 2009 we took in to Massa Berry. After finding out what his blood pressure was they said to get him straight down to the Rapid City ER. Once down there, Jonah, his mom and I, received the worst news his and our lives and that his life would be forever changed, they told us that he was in  complete kidney failure.  They said his blood pressure was at a stroke level (206/125). He was given, blood tests and an an EKG and kidney ultrasound.The doctor said "Jonah, It's a miracle - “You should be comatose or dead.”; so at 23 years old I was admitted to the hospital, and immediately underwent two hours of a three-hour dialysis treatment. He was too weak to receive the full treatment. His mother and I just started balling and Jonah was just in shock mode until it sunk it. Today, for me it is all still a blur but if you ask Jonah, he could tell you everything from begginging to end. His present condition apparently is the result of having strep throat in 2002. The strep attacked Jonah’s kidneys. His kidneys wer too scarred to be repaired and he needed a kidney transplant or he will be on dialysis the rest of his life. Jonah was on dialysis for about 8 months before finding out that his mom was the perfect candiate to donate to him. On February 3, 2010, he was given the gift of a lifetime, his mother's kidney. We were all relieved and excited that she was a match and she was the perfect canidate to donate to him. Since then he has been having different health issues. In March of 2014, he had his galbladder removed and that was a week of being in the hospital, surgery and alot of medications. In April of this year (2015), he was having actual kidney problems, rejection!. Every year he has to have a certain blood test taken called DSA (Donor Specific Antibody) and this antibody can go and attack/cause rejection. Since his transplant, it has always came back negative, well just recently it came back positive, so he re-took the blood test, just to make sure nothing went wrong and that it was still positive and not a fluke, well it came back positive. This was hard and painful to hear, so Jonah, Sue (Jonah's mother) and our two daughters drove down to Sioux Falls the very next day, where he had a Kidney biopsy that Wednesday (April 1), It lasted for about 15 minutes but they recovery time lasted several hours. I had to miss work, use, time that I really didn't want to, but had to if I wanted to get paid. The results came back known as Antibody Mediated Rejection. His doctor wanted to be very aggresive with things so he thourght that Jonah needed to start treating it right a way. Five treatments  of Plasma Pheresis every other day for the next week until Friday when he had Plasma Pheresis and also IVIG then on Saturday when he received Rituxan (a very powerful chemo treatment drug). The very next day I started my first out-patient treatment (plasma pheresis ). That just wore him out physically and mentally, but thankfully we all had each other there to help him get through it. The worst part was that it was right over the Easter holiday and Sue and I and the girls had to leave Jonah behind so he could start his treatments and contiue with them. It was his very first Easter aways from his family and his daughters, even with it being Emmi's first Easter; so while he stayed we left but came back that next Tuesday to be with him again until he was able to come home. During that time, his labs were improving and his kidney function was stable and the donor specific antibodies in his blood had been going down. Being aggressive on the treatments had been working. He was tolerating the whole thing fairly well. He didn't feel the best on treatment days, but hey what can you expect, right! I think the worst thing was that his arms were constantly being sticked. Jonah no longer has great vains to take blood from. They were just bruised and swollen, but that went away. For his very last treatmet that was on Saturday (April 11) it was a very powerful anti-rejection treatment (same drug that cancer patients receive about very 6 months--called Rituxan) that was one of the longest treatments that he had while he was down there. It took so much out of him. He was having a few reactions to the infusion so they slowed things down. He had some nausea and flem in his throat and was super tired from the BenadrylI. As well has his blood pressure going way down and then way back up. Thankfully he got through it and was able to  head home about 7:00 pm that evening, so we were ready for the long trip home with two kiddos!! Over the next few weeks he had to go in every week or every other week to get his labs re-checked to make sure the treatments had worked, and they had!!! Then after doing better after that, May 31, I had taken him to the Rapid City ER because he had a horrible migraine, body aches, stomach aches and hot and cold sweats. By sometime that early afternoon, his chest x-ray had come back with pneumonia in his right lung and again he was admitted into the hospital. With a horrible migraine that wouldn't go away, it finally had after alot of pain medication. Who knew that pneumonia caused all of these symptoms. His initial diagnosis was Sepsis, which is a horrible life threatning infection in your body, then that changed to pnenumonia. His oxygen level had gone down to a 81 so he was placed on oxygen as well. His lungs were super dry so they have been filling them with fluid to get that back in there as well as needing to watch his heart function to make sure that he didn't get to much fluid near his heart and go into heart failure. Since, being hospital, he has been slowly feeling better and making good progress according to his doctors. On Tuesday, they did another chest X-ray and found out that he double pnenuonia (in both lungs). The Sepis had gone away. Yesterday, (June 1) was the first day that he was able to leave his room and allowed off the floor, so I took him to the cafeteria for some better food then what he had been getting. Friday (June 5) he will be released and set to go home!!!

I have been with him through thick and thin, always at almost every doctor's appointment. Taking time away from work, dealing with all the medical bills, and trying to pay them off, but we are running out of sick time at work, trying to afford the trips to Sioux Falls and this week to and from Rapid and the hotels expenses in Sioux Falls and medications. It's been difficult but he and I make it work. He will always be dealing with doctors, will for the rest of his life be making anit-rejection medications, and others to make him feel and stay healthy. He will need another kidney transplant, at some point in his life, at that time we will have to go medical bankrupt and he might have to go disabaled. Right now, he continues to work (but will be taking some time away from work to heal back up).

Thank you for taking the time to ready his story. Please keep us and him in your daily prayers!