Toronto Called!

Last week Noah spent some time at home from school due to a sore stomach. With Noah, we are never completely sure what the cause of his stomach aches are, but after a few years of experince I was pretty sure it was because of a bladder infection. Thankfully, during his regular nephrology appointment the doctor was accepting of my diagnosis and Noah's symptoms and sent us home with a prescription of antibiotics and now Noah is on the mend and back to his regualr self! The following pictures are of Noah at his appointment and of what Levi likes to do when driving with someone sitting beside him.

After what feels like forever, we heard from Toronto! In November sometime, we hope to head to SickKids Hospital for appointments and tests and then a follow up meeting with the transplant team. It was really nice to be able to talk to someone who is deeply involoved in the transplant process and will (I think) be a familiar name and person to us throughout this process. While Toronto recognizes that Noah's kidney function, although low, has remained stable and they are not as concerned as I thought that they would be. However, they do acknowledges the length of time that finding an exact donor match takes and feel that we should get started so that we will be prepared when the time comes. The process of finding a donor match can take up to 6 months. There is a lot of paperwork and testing required for anyone who is willing to donate a kidney to see if they are a match for Noah. The first step is to be a blood type match. Noah has Type A blood. This means that he needs a donor who is either Type A or O. If you, or someone you know, is either of these blood types and is willing to go through further testing, please feel free to contact us at ralenting7@gmail.com. We have more information for donors to read as well as more forms that need to be filled in and sent to Toronto. We do have a requisition form for the blood work, as well as other forms and questionnaires that need to be filled out by willing donors. If you would like more information on becoming a donor, you can visit the Living Donor Program website. You can also attend a webinar with more information. You can sign up for this by clicking here. After reviewing all of the willing donors Toronto will choose only 1 person to do more testing with to see if this person is the best match for Noah. (In my opinion, it would be so great if they could do more than one person, just in case something happens and the first donor ends up not being able to donate). Of course, we as parents are definitely willing to donate, and will likely go through the process as well, but it is very difficult to think about not being able to be by Noah's side for something this big if we need to be in surgery and then recovering ourselves. We realize what a huge decision this is and we would like to thank you for even considering helping Noah out in this way. To end this post off, here are a couple of pictures from out Thanksgiving weekend. We do indeed have so much to be thankful, and we are so blessed to know a God is with us always. 'You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.' Isaiah 26:3-4