A year ago, my then 16 year old niece Natalie had kidney failure. For the last year, she has been doing at home dialysis every night--in addition to living the regular life of a 17 year old girl. She's a good sister and daughter who still likes hanging out with her parents and siblings--but she also has a great group of friends. She's been on her high school dance team (she's an amazing dancer, the kind of dancer who everyone else stops dancing to watch), getting up early every morning to practice.
After a year of getting healthy, Natalie was finally put on the transplant list. Earlier this month, she was notified that there was a kidney available. She traveled to Salt Lake, arriving to find that a clerical error had sent the kidney elsewhere. Last week, she finally had a transplant. However, because Natalie is so petite and the kidney was from a much larger person, there were difficulties with the transplant. Eventually, the doctors had to remove the kidney. After a few days, they released her from the hospital. Over the last week, her body has tried to expel 11 liters of extra fluid. Yesterday, she fainted, stopped breathing, and was rushed back to the hospital. The doctors found three leaking arteries that they've now patched up. She's in a lot of pain, but we are hopeful that her health will now improve.
Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. They've all been through a lot this year.
