Imagine the fear and heartbreak of discovering your child has a rare life-threatening kidney disease. Your only hope lies in finding a kidney donor and it turns out that donor is you. Such a blessing would allow your child to live. Now imagine you learn your newborn son has the same disease. You have already donated your kidney to save your first child’s life. Now you must find a donor to save your baby. This might seem unimaginable, yet it is the story of Gloria and Brandon Hall. However, thanks to the selfless donation of a 27-year-old COVID-19 nurse, their beautiful boy Bodie’s life was saved. (1)

Mother A Kidney Donor

When the Halls learned of their daughter London’s illness, it was easy for Gloria to choose to donate her kidney to save her child’s life. Suffering from congenital nephrotic syndrome, London’s little body discharged too much protein in her urine. (1)

Both parents carry a recessive gene that causes the disease. London’s transplant took place at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital. Both Gloria and London survived and continued on with their happy lives. (1)

Newborn Needs A Kidney Donor

Unfortunately, when their son Bodie was born, he too was diagnosed with the syndrome. Gloria was unable to donate her only kidney to her son, so the couple found themselves in what seemed to be an impossible situation. “We were really worried about Bodie,” Gloria said. “But how can you ask someone to give up a kidney?” (1)

The search was on to find a match for Bodie with someone willing to donate a kidney for their child.  The experts at M Health Fairview Transplant Care used epitope mapping and eplet matching to identify potential organ donor and recipient pairs. (1)

Kidney Donor Search Uses Precise Matching

The process is highly sophisticated and focuses on finding the best possible match to help improve long-term outcomes. The better the match, the less anti-rejection medicine transplant recipients need. (1)

“We’re very excited about the potential of eplet matching,” says M Health Fairview Transplant Surgeon Raja Kandaswamy, MD. “M Health Fairview is one of the few health systems in the country currently using the technology. It’s truly a leading-edge method.” (1)

COVID-19 Nurse A Kidney Donor

As the search continued, 27-year-old registered nurse Taylor Pikkarainen worked selflessly to assist patients suffering from COVID-19.  A distant relative of the Halls, Taylor heard of their situation through family. She found the possibility of saving the child’s life worth investigating and provided blood and answered a questionnaire. (1)

“I thought, ‘if it happens, it happens. What’s the harm in trying?’” she says. (1)

The epitope mapping and eplet matching process found Taylor the best match out of many possible donors. (1)

Kidney Donated On Donor’s Birthday

On her birthday, Taylor gave 18-month-old Bodie one of her kidneys, making them one of the first eplet-matched pairs to undergo the procedure at the hospital. Considered a minimally invasive surgery Taylor enjoyed a quick recovery. As for Bodie, he too is thriving. (1)

“His color is better, he has much more energy, and every week he’s learning new things,” says Gloria. (1)

Encouraging More Kidney Donors

Taylor encourages others to learn more about live donation. “Helping someone else and saving a little boy’s life – it wasn’t even a ‘think twice’ situation,” she says. “I kept moving forward with each step. I never wondered if it was the right thing to do.” (1)

As a fellow living kidney donor, Gloria concurs. “It’s comforting to know that you can go on to live a normal life, and it’s an amazing feeling to know that you saved someone’s life,” she says. (1)