- FERRIS BACKMEYER: She may be getting closer to a kidney transplant. (Photo: Lindsey Backmeyer/Facebook)
I’m sure lots of us — heck, all of us! — could use some good news today.
Right?
OK, here you go . . .
Lindsey Backmeyer, via Facebook, told the world on Friday that Ferris, her three-year-old daughter, “is officially active on the deceased donor list!”
Lindsey added: “While I have very few details on this, I know she’s top of the list for her blood type and no one thinks we will wait long.”
The Backmeyers, including older sisters Ksenia and Tavia, live in Kamloops; in fact, father Pat often puts on the big suit and plays the role of Digger, the Blazers’ mascot.
Ferris, who does peritoneal dialysis, was found shortly after birth to have Mainzer-Saldino syndrome that results in kidney disease, eye problems and skeletal abnormalities.
Every night since Ferris was 14 months old, she has been hooked up to a cycler so that a fluid exchange can be performed via peritoneal dialysis while she is in bed.
This happens every night . . . at home or on the road. Last night, tonight, tomorrow night . . . no exceptions.
The Backmeyers also have been searching for a living donor through the Living Kidney Donor Program at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
In February, Lindsey told Jill Sperling of CFJC-TV:
“It is preferred to have a live donor kidney. Those kidneys just typically transplant better, they do better and they typically last longer. So, for Ferris, she’s going to need more than one kidney transplant in her lifetime.
“Also, for her we need a small kidney, so a small human, a small person is what they’re kind of looking for.”
Now, though, Ferris, whose blood is B-, now is on the deceased donor list. Unfortunately, of course, a successful outcome for Ferris means that someone else is going to have to die.
The Backmeyers are fully aware that is part of having to deal with organ transplantation.
As Lindsey wrote: “With this comes so many emotions! (Older sister) Tavia says she’s excited for Ferris but also nervous, sad and scared . . . me, too, my big girl . . . me, too!”
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If you are interested in being a living kidney donor, more information is available here:
Living Kidney Donor Program
St. Paul’s Hospital
6A Providence Building
1081 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-9027
Toll free: 1-877-922-9822
Fax: 604-806-9873
Email: donornurse@providencehealth.bc.ca
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Upon seeing the news about Ferris, Jana Tremblay wrote: “Yay Ferris! We are so excited for you.”
Jana’s son Zach, 17, also is waiting and hoping for a kidney transplant. He recently had to make the transition from peritoneal dialysis to hemodialysis because the former was losing its effectiveness.
Zach and Jana, who are from Robson, B.C., spent four months in Vancouver dealing with the transition at B.C. Children’s Hospital. They now are back home and Zach travels to Trail, B.C., four times a week in order to do hemodialysis at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital.
If you have any interest in being a living kidney donor, just check out the above information and make the call or send an email. Do it even if all you want is some more information.
A three-year-old girl’s family and a 17-year-old young man and his family are waiting and hoping . . .
What’s it like having a kidney transplant with a pandemic raging all around you? . . . Michael McSherry, 32, had known for 14 years that he was in need of a transplant, so when he got only a few hours notice, he was ready to get to the Pennsylvania hospital. He was in only empty hallways, anyone near him wore a mask and his wife wasn’t allowed in the hospital to see him. . . . Most importantly, the surgery was a success. . . . Priscilla Liguori of ABC27 News has more right here.
TAKING NOTE 