Michael's Story Archives

December 7, 2007

Meet Michael Larson

Many readers at Captain's Quarters lived through the multiple transplants that the First Mate had over the last three years. Literally, this blog began because she went into the hospital for a week with kidney failure in October 2003, and I needed something to take my mind off of the pressures of her illness. CapQ readers have supported us in prayers, good thoughts, and celebration when she successfully underwent a pancreas transplant and two kidney transplants, the latest of which came on March 30th of this year. Both kidney transplants came as tremendous gifts from friends we knew in Marriage Encounter. Rarely does anyone have a friend willing to put his or her life and health on the line to save one's own -- and it's beyond remarkable to have that happen twice in three years. The FM would not be here today without them, as she never could have...

December 9, 2007

Kidney Donation: A Personal Story

On Friday, I wrote about Michael Larson, a twelve-year-old boy who needs a kidney transplant to survive. His mother Leah has allowed me to tell Michael's story in hopes that we can find a living donor with type B or type O blood to give the gift of life to Michael. I intend to write every few days on Michael and transplants, but after Friday's post, I received an e-mail from Amy Kissling, a CapQ reader and a living donor herself, asking if she could tell her story. I have written this because you might be donating a kidney to a loved one. I have no medical experience but having done this myself, I can share with you what the experience was like for me. Not on a personal or spiritual level, but just what you can expect to happen to you, your body and your kidney. What follows are...

December 14, 2007

Michael Larson Update

Last Friday, I introduced readers to Michael Larson and his mother, Leah. Michael, in the words of his teachers, is "a great kid" with a serious problem -- end-stage renal disease. Michael had to have his kidney removed and is now on dialysis at an age where boys usually spend their days playing baseball, or at this time of year, sledding and playing hockey. Instead, Michael and his mom have to worry about whether Michael can stay healthy enough for the average five-year wait for a cadaver donor. Given the extraordinary gift that my wife received twice of live-donor kidneys from our friends, I wanted to pay that forward in some small way by helping Michael find his own live donor. My first post prompted an excellent essay from CapQ reader Amy Kissling, who shared her personal story of organ donation for her friend. That prompted another reader, Paul, to...

December 17, 2007

Internet Not Just For Venting Spleens

Sally Satel's first online relationship left a permanent scar -- for which she gives profound thanks to God. In yesterday's New York Times, Satel reveals how she found a donor that saved her from end-stage renal disease, and likely a slow death from dialysis while waiting the enormously long time it takes to get a cadaver donor. Satel wonders why we don't have a better system for encouraging live donors (via King at SCSU Scholars): My story, it turns out, is a triumph of altruism. Looking back, I see that my anxiety over my future donor was a neurotic luxury. I worried about finding the ideal donor, but thousands of people have no donor at all — no relative who will do it out of love or obligation, no friend out of kindness, no stranger out of humane impulse. Alas, I have no kidney to give away. Instead, I am...

February 21, 2008

Michael Needs To Meet His Match

I began blogging about Michael Larsen, a 12-year-old boy suffering from end-stage renal disease, last December. At the time, I asked readers of Captain's Quarters to consider the live-saving gift of a kidney to help save Michael's life. A good friend of the family teaches Michael at a local middle school, and she tells us what a great kid Michael is. Now, readers can see for Michael for themselves from a local Fox station's coverage of the story last night: Ask friends and teachers about Michael Larsen. They'll talk about the 12-year-old's impossibly long eyelashes and nonstop chatter; they might not even mention the fact that Michael has no kidneys. The Saint Paul sixth-grader isn't just a medical mystery, he's an inspiring story. Fox 9's Jamie Reese introduces us to the boy facing his struggle with a smile, and hoping someone, somewhere, can help give him a new lease on...