Rey is a sweet, thoughtful, energetic and creative 8-year-old boy. At first glance, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that he’s been a warrior his entire life. His silly and creative personality instantly makes others warm up to him quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rey was born in 2018, and prior to birth, the only signs of possible health concerns was his mom’s struggle with low amniotic fluid during the last 5 weeks of pregnancy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rey was born full term, but upon his arrival it was discovered that he was born with Jaundice and Bilateral Cystic Renal Dysplasia. Rey stayed in the NICU for approximately a week for observation. Because of his renal dysplasia this meant that both of his kidneys are affected in some way. One of his kidneys did not grow to size and the other one is full of cysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This condition has caused both Rey and his family to consistently be in communication with his Kidney Care team. It means consistent labwork, hospital visits, and the occasional emergency visit or hospital stay as well. For the most part, Rey has fought alongside his family to stay as healthy and stable as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, around age 2, Rey had 2 seizures back-to-back on the same day. He was rushed to the emergency room where they discovered a small abnormality with the left side of his brain. Rey was placed on anti-seizure medication and followed up with a neurologist for approximately 3 years. During the entire time Rey did not have any additional seizures and was cleared from having to take anti-seizure medication. Through routine follow up and following all the medical advice, Rey was able to beat that medical hurdle in his path. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Rey is still on a lifelong journey with his kidneys. Although his family and him have followed medical advice and done everything in their power to help him maintain a good quality of life, as Rey’s chronic kidney disease progresses, we have a lot to overcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is our hope (his medical team and family) that Rey can skip dialysis as he awaits kidney transplant and can go directly into transplant surgery. We are hopeful that through all of our efforts, we can restore Rey’s kidney health and help him keep going through this lifelong journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Rey has an amazing support system and village already behind him, some of the uncertainties remain. Financial burden due to pre-transplant, during transplant and post transplant care are definitely worrisome to his family. Rey will also need to be on costly lifelong medication due to transplant, and his family wants to support him well into adulthood. However, we can’t do this without your help. That is why we have partnered up with COTA in an effort to help us raise funds for transplant-related expenses that will help alleviate some of the financial stress we currently face and some of the future financial stress Rey will face once he is an adult and coping with things directly. We appreciate you taking the time to listen to our story and helping in any way possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Love & Gratitude, #TeamReyXavi\ud83d\udc51<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Children\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rey is a sweet, thoughtful, energetic and creative 8-year-old boy. At first glance, you wouldn’t even be able to tell that he’s been a warrior his entire life. His silly and creative personality instantly makes others warm up to him quickly. Rey was born in 2018, and prior to birth, the only signs of possible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":89,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n