Alejandro is a very driven and proactive young boy from Southern Oregon, if you were not aware he was ill, you would never guess it. However, Alejandro has spent the entirety of his short life fighting stage four kidney disease. Born in 2006 Alejandro is now 12 years old and it is nearing the time where his kidneys will not be able to keep up with the rest of his body anymore and his doctors at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, Oregon have recommended a life saving kidney transplant.
Alejandro is the oldest of three children with one younger sister and one younger brother. His mother, Kyndra Boyd, is a single mother and the sole provider to her family. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is a national charity dedicated to organizing and guiding communities in raising funds for transplant-related expenses. In Medford, Oregon volunteers are raising funds for COTA in honor of transplant patients like local boy, Alejandro Munoz and hope to raise around $50,000.00 for transplant related expenses such as traveling to the children’s hospital 4 hours away from home, medication cost and so much more.
It has been known since the day Alejandro was born that he would eventually need a transplant. As he gets older his body mass will increase and his kidneys will not be able to process that change and thus will begin to lose functionality. With puberty looming closer and closer, the time has finally come. Alejandro started a growth hormone a couple years ago because one thing that comes along with kidney disease is the fact that his body cannot keep up as it should and so he does not grow at the same rate as other children do. Thankfully the growth hormone is working as it should and he is finally growing at a much faster pace!! After being in the 11th percentile his whole life he is now in the 33rd percentile in height. We were referred in May 2016 to begin the transplant process.
The time has finally come for Alejandro to begin his journey to a hopefully better life. He has spent his whole life up to this point battling this disease. All he knows is the pain and sickness he has felt and we are hoping that once he gets this transplant he will feel like a completely new kid. No matter how bad things have gotten, this little boy is a fighter and he hasn’t let anything hold him back. Alejandro is an amazingly strong, smart, outgoing and all around happy child. He cannot even begin to comprehend the changes he is going through but he knows that everything he is going to go through is just getting him one step closer to feeling so much better.
We are going to use this page to keep anyone who is interested updated on our events, how much we have raised for COTA in honor of transplant patients like Alejandro as well as Alejandro’s health status provided through blogs written by his mom.
For those wondering, the requirements for a donor are as follows:
- Must be at least 21 years old
- Cannot have had any surgeries or given birth in the last year
- Must have a BMI of less than 32
- Cannot have high blood pressure
- Must be blood type A or O
- Cannot have diabetes
- Must be drug free for at least the last 2 years
- Cannot have gotten any tattoos or piercings within the last year