Micheal's Hope

Micheal is my 16 year old godson who is currently awaiting a kidney transplant. His mom, Misty, and I have been friends since middle school.  She is a single mom of 3 teenagers and one of the strongest people I know. I started this page to help this family out with medical bills. Micheal is currently on the donor registry and will be starting dialysis soon.  You cannot imagine the cost of everyday medications, copays, tests, procedures, anti rejection medication and the transplant itself. This on top of everyday living expenses is just to much to handle. I'm asking everyone to read Micheal's story below and donate whatever you can to help this family out. Every dollar helps!  I am also asking for prayers for this family as they await news from the donor registry.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Love,  Tiffany Stevens

Micheal’s Story
I found out I was pregnant on March 23rd 1999. I went to the doctor for my first sonogram at 18 weeks! I was so excited, but I noticed that the nurse was acting very strange! I thought WOW they take a lot of pictures of something so small what do they need all those for but, of course, this was my first child so I just figured it was normal. Then, the Doctor called us into her office and said she had something she needed to tell me! I will never forget how the room started to spin and how nauseated I was. Misty, it looks as though the baby has a mass the size of the baby’s abdomen. This can be life threatening! Life threatening, I thought, No I am healthy, I take good care of myself, Why us, Why my baby!!!! I fell to the floor I couldn’t breathe! The next day I was in the office of a neonatal specialist (Our Angel) who told me that my child had an obstruction that was keeping him from urinating and causing the baby’s bladder to be extremely over extended which is why there was very little amniotic fluid. I was relieved that it wasn’t a tumor, but he said that this was a very serious problem and that we would have to treat and see how things went! For the next two weeks I visited Dr. Allen (Specialist) every other day to have amniocentesis to remove the excess urine from his bladder.

At 20 weeks, they placed a catheter through me into the baby’s bladder so we didn’t have to have the amino as often! I was put on mandatory bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. Dr. Allen let me know that there was a lot of stress on the baby and that the chances for the baby living through delivery were less than 5 %. He wanted to make sure I was going to be able to handle it! He said that he was obligated to tell me that abortion was an option. I looked at him and told him that if God wanted the baby He would take him when He wanted him and that if that meant I only got to spend one minute, hour, or day with my child then that was God’s plan, but, I would take every second I could get! They did a Genetic test to see if there was anything else they could learn to help.

At 27 weeks, something was terribly wrong. I started cramping really bad! I was rushed to the hospital where I found out that the catheter had slipped out of the baby and he was in distress. I remained in the hospital for the rest of the pregnancy. I then found out that I was having a BOY!! I was transferred to Northside Hospital since it was closer to Scottish Rite and they began steroids to strengthen his lungs. On August 30th, they attempted to place another catheter but during the procedure I went in to shock and was rushed to the OR for an Emergency C-section. 17 minutes later I was the proud mother of a baby boy! 17 inches long and 4.8 lbs. Jamie Micheal Minyard Jr. was born August 30th 1999 at 7:29 pm. He was a full 10 weeks premature.

Micheal was rushed out of the room as I only got to see a glimpse of him before they took him to NICU and then transported him to Scottish Rite where I would get to see him for the first time 4 days later. The hardest time in my life was sitting in that Maternity ward listening to all those babies cry and all the joyful faces pass by while I sat alone with no child to hold or kiss. Most parents get to hold their child the minute it is born. The first time I got to see my child, other than a horrible Polaroid the nurse gave me with all those tubes in him looking so fragile and sickly, he was 4 days old and had already been through a major surgery. I didn’t get to hold him, but he held on to my finger so tight. They kept him sedated so that he couldn’t pull out the tubes and wires and so he wouldn’t be in pain. He was on a ventilator to help him breathe for nine days. On day 10, I finally got to hold my precious little miracle. He was so small, the size of a baby doll. He didn’t fit into preemie clothes, but it was okay because with all the wires he couldn’t really wear them anyway! He was fed through a feeding tube because he was too small and didn’t tolerate the formula or breast milk.

On September 22nd, he had a second surgery to close a valve in his heart that was too large, this normally closes up on its own after birth. Micheal was back on the ventilator for another 6 days. After recovery, I was finally able to feed him by mouth for the first time! I sat by his bed 24/7 only leaving when they would kick me out during shift changes. I read to him and sang to him and held him as much as I could. Finally, Eight LONG weeks later, Micheal was release and I got to bring him home just in time for his first Halloween!

At seven years old we found out that his kidneys were failing and that he would eventually need to have Dialysis and a Kidney transplant. He was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). He takes 13 different medications daily just to stabilize his life. He must be catheterized multiple times a day to drain his bladder and is required to wear a catheter bag at night to give his kidneys a rest.

Due to complications of CKD, which has progressed further over the years, My little boy has stopped growing. He now takes shots daily to try to make him grow. He is determined that CKD won’t beat him and without the advances in medicine and the help of the National Kidney Foundation, He wouldn’t have made it as far as he has now. Micheal is a fighter and he won’t stop fighting until no other child or adult has to live with Kidney Disease.

Micheal has been through a lot over the past sixteen years, which has included 13 surgeries on his urethra, abdominoplasty, and a Mitrofanoff valve. Even though he is a very sick child he tries his best not to let it get in the way of him living life to its fullest. He has handled life very well and is a very happy and intelligent 16 year old!

We were informed that Micheal’s kidneys are shutting down and he needs to start dialysis immediately. According to the doctor, it is now time to place him on the kidney donor registry. We could receive a call any day now.  Please keep us in your prayers as we encounter this difficult challenge. We have no doubt that God will help Micheal through this difficult surgery and he will continue to enjoy life to the fullest. Thank you so much for your time and donations. They mean the world to our family.

God Bless & Thank you!
Misty Minyard & Micheal