Yes, miracles still happen! Two-year-old AJ Burgess, who was once denied a kidney from his perfect match–his father– received a new kidney from another unexpected donor Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving.
This is a welcome miracle after a prolonged battle with hospital officials who postponed his original October surgery when his father violated his parole and was arrested.
“This is an unexpected Thanksgiving miracle,” family attorney Muwali Davis told CNN while the baby was in recovery at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. “To watch this child that no one expected to live, and now for him to have a chance at a healthy life, it’s unbelievable.
“His parents and family are overwhelmed with gratitude,” Davis added. “They want everyone to know that with faith, all things are possible. When the situation was very bleak, it was their faith and the support of the community that pulled them through this.”
After the surgery was initially finished, Baby AJ’s mom, Carmella Burgess, shared that the kidney came from a deceased donor and that AJ was already showing signs that the kidney had taken hold and was working.
“Surgeons just said usually it takes the kidney sometime to make urine when coming from a deceased donor,” posts Carmella. “So they have to watch him closely. They came right back and said AJ is already making urine. Yesss Lord show out!”
According to reports, the hospital was not accepting the kidney donation because Burgess’ father, Anthony Dickerson, violated parole.
AJ Burgess was born prematurely without a functioning kidney. He spent the first 10 months of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit at Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta. Dickerson was tested and found to be a perfect match to give his son a kidney. In fact, Dickerson is said to be the only 100 percent match for his son. Unfortunately, Dickerson was in prison for violating his probation on weapons charges.
Dickerson was soon released and set to donate his kidney to his son on Oct. 3. However, he was soon jailed again for violating parole for possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of or attempt to commit a crime. He was released again, but by then everything changed.
Carmella received a letter notifying her that the surgery would be delayed until Dickerson could provide evidence of…
…compliance to the terms of his probation for the next three months. Burgess said “The lady said we need your parole information and your probation info. He said, ‘why?’ We need you to be on good behavior for three to four months before you can give your son the kidney. And January 2018 we will think about re-evaluating you basically.”
“That’s all I ever wanted was a son. And I finally got him, and he’s in this situation,” he said. If Dickerson remains on the right track, he’ll be able to donate his kidney to AJ in January. But Carmella believes it may be too late. She told local CBS affiliate that AJ’s body is starting to fail and he requires bladder surgery.
African Americans have higher rates of diabetes and high blood pressure than Caucasians, increasing the risk of organ failure. African Americans make up 13% of the population, 34% of those waiting for a kidney, and 25% of those waiting for a heart.
At transplant centers with the highest disparities pertaining to living organ donation, African Americans had 76 percent lower odds of obtaining a kidney from a living donor. Even at the facilities that came closest to equality, African Americans were still 35 percent less likely to obtain a transplant from a living donor.
There are more than 92,000 people waiting for a kidney in the United States, and over a third of those are African Americans. In 2011, there were 5,771 living donor transplants performed –the lowest rate in ten years — but only 813 of those kidneys were received by African Americans.
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