Jessie suffers from chronic kidney disease from a number of reasons.  Jessie was born April 21,2004 in Washington PA. He is 16 years old and a junior in high school. Jessie is always an honor student in school and enjoys playing basketball, riding his bike with friends and gaming. He has lived in Carmichaels PA most of his life. He has 3 cats and 1 of them he has had since he was just little and is very close to her. He named her snickers who is now around 15 teen years old.

Jessie was suffering from bad headache then he started seeing black dots. We called his eye dr and made him an appointment , however his vision was getting worse and his appointment was not for another week. Jessie’s mom called his PCP and we had to take him the next morning. We took him to the drs on 07/09/2020 to find out he was suffering from hypertension crisis (high blood pressure) and that’s why he had the headaches and was seeing black spots. The Dr could not get his blood pressure down so he was sent to uniontown hospital by ambulance. When he was at uniontown they did some test and the results was not good. When the dr advised us that his kidneys was not working like they should our hearts were crushed. 

On 07/09/2020 uniontown life flighted him to UPMC children’s hospital in Pittsburgh and they listed him as critical condition and was in ICU for 3 days. The Dr. got his blood pressure down then did test on the kidneys. We found out from the test his kidneys are only working about 10%.  He was in the hospital for little over a week. 

Jessie’s eyesight did return back to normal, however he is taking a lot of medication for a 16 year old. He has to go for blood work every 2 weeks and has monthly visits to the kidney specialist. Jessie is waiting for a kidney transplant and has been placed on the donor list. We are hoping his blood work continues to stay stable so dialysis can be avoided.

When Jessie got sick and we found out he was in kidney failure it truely was a life changing experience. The Dr told the family it’s a good thing Jessie got to the hospital when he did and that he’s a miracle child for pulling through the condition he was in. The family is hoping for a transplant before dialysis is needed if his kidneys allow it. Jessie is now on dialysis 3 days a week. The family prayers everyday for the call from the hospital so Jessie don’t have to be on dialysis anymore.

UPDATE:

On Thursday January 7, 2021 we got the call the family has been praying for.  Jessie was admitted to the hospital that night at 9pm to get him ready for surgery. His transplant surgery was scheduled for Friday January 8,2021. Surgery went well and so far everything is going as it should and he is resting.

Funds are raised for COTA in honor of Jessie and COTA’s partnership with our family will last for his lifetime. COTA will assist Jessie with transplant related expenses after the surgery and will also cover the expense for staying near the hospital for 4 weeks after surgery as required by the dr. 

Thank you all for your prayers, love and support for Jessie and our family.  We are very grateful for everything.

The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy children and young adults. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.