Noah was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome at 11 months in February of 2004 and confirmed with FSGS at 14 months. In March of the next year he lost his kidney function and spent almost three years on dialysis. It was an extremely difficult three years. We did two 1/2 years of peritoneal dialysis. But, when Noah lost his third peritoneal dialysis catheter in September 2007, due to a tunnel infection, we decided to try a kidney transplant. At that point, Noah switched to Hemodialysis four times a week as we waited for a cadaver kidney. Noah was placed on the donor list on December 7th, 2007 and had his kidney transplant January 17th, 2008.

Noah is now five years old and five months past the transplant. He is doing fantastic! We feel very blessed that everything is going well. He is one of the lucky ones; there has been no sign of recurrence of the

FSGS. We know that this can change so we’re enjoying every moment that Noah gets to live life free of dialysis.

Now that he is lucky enough to experience the benefit of a working kidney he is really thriving! He has grown over 5 centimeters since the transplant, has a new stamina, sleeps through the night and is enjoying life without medical restrictions. He also loves taking baths and swimming. Since he had catheters he was never able to get wet. Now he loves anything with water! And Noah will be starting Kindergarten in September.

We are all enjoying each day and hope that every child who suffers from renal failure gets to experience life with working kidneys.