Our sweet Maverick has faced more medical challenges in his short life than most people do in a lifetime. He’s currently battling end-stage kidney failure and is on dialysis as we wait and hope for a life-saving kidney transplant.

At 2 days old, we found out Maverick had anal atresia and 24 hours later, our sweet baby had a colostomy procedure. During that time, due to blood work and other concerns, we discovered he only had 1 cystic kidney. He was later diagnosed with VACTERL Syndrome.   

After multiple surgeries during his first few weeks of life and giving his little body time to try and heal, we waited to see if his creatinine would decrease.  Thankfully, he was able to stabilize enough that after 2 months in the NICU, we were able to bring him home!

Over the next few months, he had many other surgeries to correct other issues.  In the fall of 2023, he had a PD Catheter placed for dialysis. After many failed weeks of catheter flushes and surgeries, Maverick had another surgery and started Dialysis on his first birthday (January 5th, 2024). After 7 weeks in the hospital and lots of trial and error, Maverick was released from the hospital to do PD Dialysis at home. He has been on daily Dialysis since.   

Along with a few other surgeries to make sure his body is ready for a new kidney, Maverick is ready to be listed for a new kidney! While dialysis has given us more time with our boy, this isn’t the quality of life we want for him, and we are looking forward to him getting a kidney and a chance to enjoy being a kid without being tied to a bed and tubes for 12 hours a day. 

A transplant is an amazing next step, but it doesn’t come without trials.  Post-transplant life means a lifetime of medication, frequent labs (daily at first, then biweekly for a few months!), strict infection precautions, and hospital visits. Because of all the medications, his immune system will be very fragile, and even a simple cold can land us back in the hospital. We’ll be required to stay in Phoenix for 6-8 weeks once we are released from the hospital, but will remain “quarantined” for most of that time.  That means we will need to find a place to stay for about 2 months that is close to the hospital. 
      
We can’t wait to update you on our journey!!! Thank you for following along. 

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.