{"id":7417,"date":"2019-03-22T14:21:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T03:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=7417"},"modified":"2019-11-19T07:37:13","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T20:37:13","slug":"max-block-has-received-the-gift-of-life-twice-from-his-mum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/max-block-has-received-the-gift-of-life-twice-from-his-mum\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Block has received the gift of life twice from his mum"},"content":{"rendered":"

In utero, scans showed that his kidneys were damaged.\u00a0A tiny partial blockage in the urethra, the tube that allows the bladder to be emptied, caused a chain reaction of problems as he grew in the womb.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Picture: Jay TownA tiny partial blockage in the urethra, the tube that allows the bladder to be emptied, caused a chain reaction of problems as he grew in the womb.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First it damaged Max\u2019s bladder, which then caused to his kidneys to slowly be destroyed.<\/p>\n

Upon the birth of her son, and the diagnosis of Posterior urethral valves, Kylee Block was told Max would one day need a new kidney.<\/p>\n

But that day came quicker than expected.<\/p>\n

At this first appointment with Royal Children\u2019s Hospital nephrologist Dr Cathy Quinlan at eight months of age, tests showed Max had unexpectedly tipped over from chronic kidney disease to kidney failure and admitted straight to the ward.<\/p>\n

Dr Quinlan said dialysis kept Max alive for just over a year \u2014 replacing 15 per cent of his kidney function \u2014 until he could reach the magic 10kg mark needed for surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese children have to be big enough so that an adult kidney will fit in, that the blood vessels are big enough to be sewn together and the child has a big enough blood pressure to keep this other kidney happy,\u201d Dr Quinlan said.<\/p>\n

Kylee was a perfect match to donate her kidney. Max, who now has three kidneys, now likes to compare matching scars with his mum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel blessed that I was able to give him life for the second time,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s this special bond I have with him now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Quinlan and the RCH nephrology team will continue to see Max once a month to check the organ, which just celebrated the important one year milestone, is still adjusting to its new home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do all of this so our children have a normal life, whatever that means for that family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is supposed to run and play and do whatever other children do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jan Juc boy, who turns three on Monday, has been \u201crebirthed\u201d since the lifesaving operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like he was watching from his hospital cot, taking in everything and saving up all his energy to be unleashed now,\u201d said Kylee.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a different Max. He was so quiet and sickly and didn\u2019t seem happy before the transplant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like a switch had been flicked. He\u2019s on the run constantly from one thing to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

To donate to The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal please click here<\/a> or phone 9292 1166.<\/p>\n

Words Brigid O’Connell (Herald Sun), photos Jay Town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max has received the gift of life twice from his mum. After his mum Kylee was told Max would one day need a kidney transplant following a diagnosis at birth, she decided to donate her own, strengthening the bond she already had with her son.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":7418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8971,7198,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-good-friday-appeal","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7417"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7423,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7417\/revisions\/7423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}