Live Saving Gift for Peyton
September 16, 2006 | Kidney and Urinary System
A Washington girl who suffered from a rare illness just received a life-saving gift from her mother.
Even though she’s a shy 8-year-old, her mother calls Peyton Zehler a fighter. She has needed to be. An inherited disorder, called focal segmental glomerular sclerosis, has caused her kidneys to gradually, painfully fail her since birth.
We met Peyton the day before her life-changing event. She’d been on kidney dialysis all summer and had taken medications since she was four. Favorite foods like potatoes, fruits and vegetables were off limits.
She had never had the stamina to attend school.
“She’s just extremely brave,” said her mother Lorrie Brandt-Zehler. “She puts up with all the medications. And she has done all her own injections for over a year.”
There’s no cure, but there is hope. She had her old kidneys removed June 29. Now she is ready for a new one, a new kidney that comes from her mother. Through the live donor program at the University of Washington, Lorrie found she was a perfect match.
“It feels wonderful,” she said. “I feel extremely blessed that I have a healthy body and that I have taken care of it for so long so that she can receive a healthy kidney.”
When an adult donates a kidney to a child, the donor surgery takes place at the University of Washington Medical Center. Then the newly harvested kidney takes a quick ride to Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center. It’s delivered promptly into the operating room of the waiting child.
Just six days after transplant the change in Peyton was obvious and heartening. She had just sent her dad out for coveted French fries.
“She’s genuinely happier, she doesn’t feel so crummy,” Lorrie said. “So it makes it easier for her to feel good.”
It’s a great reward for a mom who made a lifesaving gift without hesitation.
“There was no decision to be made,” Lorrie said. “It was just what needed to be done.”
Peyton’s mother now urges others to consider becoming live donors. Transplant surgery is less invasive than in the past. Donors have smaller incisions and a shorter recovery time.