Nathan’s wild ride: An appendectomy, two transplants and the journey ahead
Nathan, pre-transplant, during his Make-A-Wish trip to the San Diego Zoo
When the phone rang at the Natale family home in Loudonville, New York, during the early morning hours of Jan. 12, 2013, Nathan Natale knew exactly what it meant.
“My little sister had someone sleeping over. And I was like, ‘hello parents of friend, we gotta go.’”
The phone call was from Boston Children’s Hospital. A donor match had been found. The Natales quickly packed, hopped in the car and began the three-hour journey to the hospital for Nathan’s kidney and intestine transplant. But Nathan’s transplant journey didn’t begin here. It began five years earlier following a routine surgery.
An unexpected trip to the emergency room
At the tender age of 15, Nathan’s appendix ruptured, triggering a series of events that turned his world upside down. Complications from an appendectomy at a local hospital led to multiple organ failure. For the next three weeks, Nathan was in a medically induced coma.
“When I awakened I knew something had gone very wrong, but I didn’t want to dig too deep into what had happened. It was just too scary.”
One month later, Nathan was taken by MedFlight to Boston Children’s, where he underwent treatment to stabilize his failing organs.
“I started asking questions. ‘Why am I here?’ ‘Why can I not eat anything?’ Ultimately, they explained that a blood clot during the appendectomy had caused me to lose 80 percent of my small intestine. Every time I at...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Emily Williams Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories dialysis intestinal transplant kidney transplant Pediatric Transplant Center (PTC) Source Type: news
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