Stephen's Journey: Introducing...

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Introducing...

Playbaby's Mr. March 2013

Stephen Schwartz

Stephen Charles Schwartz

Place of birth: Fairfax, Virginia

Age: 2 years, 2 months

Height: 2'8"

Weight: 30 pounds

Likes: Ice, planes, choo choos, trucks, Elmo, bah bah's, Monkey, playing ball, and chasing Dog Dog

Dislikes: Food, scary movies, and unfriendly people

Favorite TV show: Sesame Street

Favorite book: Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

Favorite song: The Wheels on the Bus

*This post is courtesy of Stephen's Mom and Dad

2 comments:

AnonymousMarch 29, 2013 at 3:43 PM
What a HUNK!!!!!! Uncle Dick is still working on Stephen's airplane. He wants to do an extra special job attending to the details. Hand carved the pilot and soon will be doing the paint. Knows his work will not only be critiqued by Stephen but also by Poppie:) Hope you all have a beautiful Easter!!!
Love,
Aunt LuAnn & Uncle Dick
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AnonymousMarch 31, 2013 at 11:52 AM
He is beautiful, and looks very healthy. I am sure the transplant will go off perfectly for this very well deserving young child and his family.
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Our Crazy Kidney Life

As many of you already know, our son Stephen, was born with a very rare kidney disease called Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease (ARPKD). When the disease was discovered during my 27th week of pregnancy, Stephen was given a less than 1% chance of living more than a few hours past birth. He was to have such severely underdeveloped lungs that the doctors said he would likely not even take one breath. However, on January 4, 2011, we were granted our 1st miracle - and Stephen came into this world crying (and breathing!) and fighting for his life with fierce determination. At 6 days old he had BOTH of his kidneys removed and began peritoneal dialysis. Stephen came home from the hospital when he was 59 days old requiring 12 hours of dialysis every night as well as enteral (feeding tube) feeds during the day and overnight.

On May 9, 2013, we were granted our 2nd miracle, in the form of a new kidney from an extremely generous friend. Stephen received a kidney from a non-related living donor at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He spent 13 days in the hospital recovering from his big surgery and ever since has been living life the fullest! His life is still a delicate balance of medications and weekly lab work, but he's an extremely vibrant, loving, active 2.5 year old.

This blog is Stephen's journey told through my eyes (his mother's), thoughts, and emotions, with extreme highs and lows. But there's no way we would be where we are today without all of the support, thoughts and prayers from our family, friends, and readers! Thank you!!