Dear Friends, 

As another year winds down I want to take the opportunity to share an update with you. Of course we all know it’s been another crazy year of covid, but our lives have also been full of dialysis, new milestones, and some big next steps for Kiran and our family. Our son Kiran just turned two years old! He continues to amaze us every day with his big strides and his joyful personality, despite having almost no kidney function. We took the first big step towards kidney transplant when we traveled to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital twice in the last few months beginning the transplant evaluation and workup process.  

This leads me to our biggest news: we have been cleared to begin evaluating living donors! By way of background, kidney transplant recipients can receive a kidney either from a living donor or a deceased donor. Kidneys from living donors typically last longer and usually are a better “match.” Both of us (Kalyan and Mary) have started the evaluation process to see if either of us is a match for Kiran. If you or someone you know is interested in seeing if you’re a match or if you just want to learn more about the process, please visit the donor website through Cincinnati Children’s Hospital: https://cchmc.donorscreen.org/register/now. Cincinnati Children’s has a living donor coordinator who handles all contact with potential donors and we have zero contact with them, so we will never know who volunteers. The screening begins with a questionnaire and then Cincinnati Children’s will contact those who have potential to match.

We still have one major step before transplant: as many of you know, the lack of working kidneys is not Kiran’s only challenge. Kiran was born with a mass in his right lung. He will unfortunately have to have a portion of his lung removed before transplant to avoid any future issues once he’s on immunosuppressant medications. We have the surgery scheduled for early January 2022. This is a major surgery and, barring any complications, Kiran will likely be inpatient at Cincinnati Children’s for about two weeks. We are anxious about this surgery, and appreciate all of your prayers of support particularly at this time.

While there are still many struggles, we have been blown away by the generosity, love, and support we’ve received from our friends and family. We have partnered with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) to raise funds in Kiran’s honor to assist with transplant-related expenses. All donations to COTA in honor of Kiran are available for a lifetime of transplant-related expenses, such as antirejection medications, future surgeries, etc. While we don’t love to ask people for money, it has given us a huge peace of mind to see our COTA campaign reach 60% of our goal. We are humbled by the support we have already received and so very grateful for your donations to COTA, so they can allow us to travel this path with greater ease and peace.

We’re excited to share our next steps with you in future blog updates and for COTA for Kiran to be considered in any of your year-end giving. COTA is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization and donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Truly, we could not go through this journey to transplant without all the help and prayers from our family and friends. 

We hope you are all doing well and wish you a very merry Christmas!

Peace, Love, and so much gratitude,

Kalyan, Mary, and Kiran