Our First Appearance

We made our first appearance as the Honorary Family for the Kidney Foundation this evening!  It was a Corporate Walk Reception, so the room was filled with lots of business professionals…and I had to give a speech!!  I was so nervous about this, but as soon as we arrived, they made us feel so special and important so it helped me to stay calm and remember that it wasn’t about me…it was about Ryder’s story and how much this Foundation means to us.  Sooo, here’s the speech:

First, I want to thank the National Kidney Foundation for asking us to be the Honorary Family this year for the 2010 Kidney Walk. They greeted me with open arms from the first second I reached out to them and have been a great group of people to work with! I feel truly honored to take part in this Foundation.

Let me tell you a little bit about what brought us to the Kidney Foundation. Our son Ryder was born with Posterior Urethral Valves, which is a urinary tract abnormality that causes excessive fluid retention. The problem was first noticed during a late term sonogram and worsened over time. His bladder, urereters, and kidneys continued swelling until the pressure was too much and caused a pin-hole sized rupture in his left kidney. I was 34 weeks pregnant and the Doctor’s knew it was time to deliver the baby and proceed with medical intervention. They were able to perform surgery and carterize the valves, allowing all of the pressure to release from his kidneys and bladder. Over time Ryder’s body started to heal itself and I’m so happy to report today that he has two healthy, functioning kidneys! (At this point the whole audience started clapping so of course my eyes filled up with tears!)

It’s safe to say that I stand here telling you a complete success story! I would like to thank the National Kidney Foundation for that. They have dedicated so many years to raising funds and to furthering research and education, without their efforts I don’t know that I would have a success story to share right now. I’m not confident that this blockage would have been found, or identified, or most importantly, corrected. I don’t know that my son would have survived.

So a huge thank you to the Kidney Foundation for all of your efforts, thank you to God for saving my son, and thank you all for being here tonight to support this wonderful cause.

Whew, that was so hard, but it was SO worth it!  The folks at the Kidney Foundation are so so so sweet to us!  And so many people came up to us afterwards saying how strong Ryder is and what a great story he has, and my personal favorite “God bless your family”.

God really has blessed our family.  When I wrote that speech on Monday (my procrastination skills did not end when I got out of college), it was hard for me to think back to what was going on with his kidneys and how he overcame all of it.  It never really dawned on me how Ryder’s kidney problems have almost erased from our memories.  Now, we are so consumed with “stroke this, and stroke that” when once upon a time it was ALL about the kidneys!  So, what does that tell you…God brought us COMPLETELY out of that situation.  In such a short time!  He is only 1 and we have come completely full circle.  Oh how I pray that in a few years we can look back and say “stroke? What stroke?!”

A few more pics from the evening: