Meet Baby Roy!
On December 11th, 2019, Roy Price was born at Jack D. Weiler Hospital and subsequently diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure. This beautiful baby boy spent his first week in the world getting a bunch of tests that pointed to him needing to start dialysis. Roy was then transferred to The Children’s Hospital of Montefiore to receive the care he needed.
Roy’s mom, Ms. Barnes explained how traumatic the experience was when she heard her baby boy would need to start dialysis: “On Christmas Day, I got the worst news a parent could get. One of the kidney doctors at the hospital told me that if Roy doesn’t start dialysis as soon as possible, he is going to die… My eyes just started pouring tears.” But soon after, she received good news too: “The next day when I went to see Roy in the hospital, I was told Roy could go home. He would just have to come to the clinic for weekly visits until he could start dialysis.” Since Covid was surging at this time, Roy couldn’t get the surgery done to place his dialysis catheter and feeding tube in immediately. Roy’s mom was ecstatic that she could finally bring her son home from the hospital.
On June 15th, 2020, Roy finally got his dialysis catheter and feeding tube placed! However, this caused him to lose his appetite and he refused to eat or drink by mouth; he did not want to drink from his bottle or eat any kind of baby food. It was a long 3 years that Roy was on peritoneal dialysis for. Throughout this journey however, his nurses and doctors became like family and his mom described him as being such a happy little boy who always had a smile on his face and was always laughing!
While he was on dialysis, the goal for Roy was for him to gain 10kg so he could be put on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. After realizing he would need a kidney, Roy’s maternal grandmother - or Yaya as he calls her - swore she would be a match for her grandson and went about finding out. After a couple of months and Roy starts gaining the weight he needs to, his grandma finds out that she is a match for Roy!! Ms. Barnes shed “tears of joy for Roy” because he was going to be able to get a kidney transplant from a very special live recipient: his Yaya.
On January 4th, 2023, Roy got his kidney after a long 3 years from his grandma! After a fast 2 week recovery, Roy started to get his appetite back and began to eat everything without his feeding tube! He takes all of his medicine and is doing much better. His mom says he talks up a storm and is never quiet. He goes to Pre-K now and is doing great after his surgery!
