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Bodie Corridor, the 18-month-old from St. Michael, Minnesota, was born with a situation referred to as “congenital nephrotic syndrome,” a uncommon kidney dysfunction.
His mother and father knew early on he’d want a kidney transplant, however neither one among them may donate.
“It is like, how do you ask anyone to donate a kidney?” Bodie’s mother Gloria Corridor advised KSTP.
Bodie’s dad, Brandon Corridor, wasn’t a blood-type match, and Gloria had already donated a kidney to Bodie’s older sister who had the identical situation.
“This was exterior of our management,” Brandon mentioned.
Ultimately, Bodie’s kidneys would have failed, his household says.
He was positioned on a kidney transplant listing, however his medical doctors additionally really helpful taking to social media and utilizing phrase of mouth to attempt to discover a donor.
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Then got here nurse Taylor Pikkarainen, who’s a good friend of a good friend.
“It is positively a part of my calling, serving to individuals,” she mentioned. “Even simply studying his story and seeing his image on the Fb web page, he was the cutest factor ever.”
Pikkarainen, a touring nurse from Minnesota, was working with COVID-19 sufferers in New Jersey when she heard about Bodie.
“I stuffed out the paperwork proper then and there,” she recalled.
Docs say it’s onerous to discover a well-matched donor, however physicians at M Well being Fairview decided Pikkarainen can be the very best match for Bodie out of a number of doable kidney donors.
His case was one of many first to make use of new, enhanced, matching expertise referred to as “epitope mapping.”
Dr. Raja Kandaswamy says one of these matching permits medical doctors to guage organs on a extra minute, detailed stage to find out the power of a match between a donor and a recipient.
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“We get to the molecular stage and search for the molecular signatures that pose danger for rejection, and if we are able to match at that stage, that offers you the next diploma of safety from rejection.” Dr. Kandaswamy mentioned.
The transplant surgical procedure came about July 9, which simply so occurred to be Pikkarainen’s birthday.
“It was a unique birthday, however an excellent one,” she mentioned.
“There isn’t any technique to specific how grateful you might be for saving your child, actually,” Bodie’s mother mentioned.
“We simply advised her ‘Thanks,'” his father mentioned. “We simply could not imagine that she was prepared to do one thing like that for us.”
“We’re related in a roundabout way, however you’ll be able to’t see it from the skin,” Pikkarainen mentioned.
Bodie is taking anti-rejection medicine, and doubtless will for the remainder of his life. His medical doctors say that the in-depth matching they did on the entrance finish will hopefully enhance his odds.
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