Max and family looking forward to 2023 after receiving the Gift of Life at Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Many of us are looking forward to the new year but for Max 2023 promises to be a special year after a life-saving kidney transplant journey.
This festive period has been so different to the previous two years with the four-year-old able to truly share the spirit of the season at home in Erdington with his family, including his four siblings.
After falling ill in the spring of 2020 Max was diagnosed with severe chronic renal damage and was transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, cared for by our specialist team on Ward 1.
Mum, Katie, said: “Max had a number of problems with his blood pressure and with fluid overloading his kidney. It was such a worrying time. We were told he would need a kidney transplant and were put on the waiting list."
Over the following months Max became more poorly at times and spent time in the hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit throughout 2020 and 2021. He also underwent dialysis treatment whilst the family were desperately witing for the call to say a donor organ had been found.
Max had dialysis at home for over a year, which took 12 hours a night. He was then treated with a new type of dialysis called haemodialysis, where Max had to attend hospital four times a week for four hours a day.
Katie explained: "It was a difficult time for us as parents, but it was also really hard on Max's brothers. It was so hard me to make time for the whole family with dad working and me needing to spend time in the hospital with Max.
"He was poorly during the COVID-19 pandemic when visiting restrictions were in place, so his brothers couldn't visit him in hospital. My eldest son, Jack, who is really close with Max, found it particularly hard. However, the school were really helpful and offered my sons counselling to help."
In May 2022, Katie received the call she had been longing for - a kidney ready for Max.
She said: "I was in shock when I was told. I had to pass the phone to Dad as I couldn't speak. It was such an emotional time."
A team of surgical specialists performed the transplantation procedure, which took around eight hours.
The surgery went well but there were still a few more bumps in the road for Max to negotiate including a follow-up operation in October followed by months of recovery. It meant that, last year, he was in the Children’s Hospital over the festive period – aside from Christmas Day itself when he was able to spend some time at home before returning to be cared for.
The good news is that this year he has gone from strength-to-strength and started school in September; enjoying his first full-term with his classmates.
It also means that Max and his family have been able to concentrate on all the enjoyable things the festive season brings.
Katie said: “This is the first Christmas we've managed to have as a family without all the stress and worry. Last year, we did manage to come home for Christmas Day, but we were in the hospital for most of the festive period. We are so excited to spend it at home together.
"It's just so nice to return to normality. This year, we even managed to go on a trip as a family. It's the first time we've gone away in over two years.
"I can't thank the team at Ward One enough. The nurses who cared for Max was amazing, I can't fault them. They did a fantastic job."
Organ donation can change a family's life. Why not make it your new year’s resolution to register your decision, ‘have the chat’ with your loved ones and share your wishes?
Katie said: It's so important to have the chat about organ donation, it can change a life."
To find out more about organ donation and giving the ‘Gift of Life’ visit: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk