It can be difficult when you are dealing with health problems. For many of us, these problems consist of being down for a few days with a cold or the flu, but for a toddler in Wisconsin, it was an extreme problem.
Three-year-old Kingston Vang-Wraggs had to stay at the hospital for almost 2 years because he was suffering from a rare condition. He was born with a kidney disorder and after having a kidney transplant in the summer, his health began to improve.
All in all, he spent 640 days at the American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. After that, he was able to go home.
One of the doctors that treated the little boy spoke to Good Morning America. Dr. Neil Paloian said: “He just had one complication after the next and he was in the hospital for so long. It’s such a miracle that we were finally able to get him home.
Tommy Wraggs, the little boy’s father also spoke with Good Morning America, saying that he was born with the condition. His symptoms got worse one night in September 2020 when Tommy was having cramps. They took him to the hospital.
By the next day, they had figured out he had nephrotic syndrome. Too much protein is passed into the urine with this kidney disorder and it is often caused by damage to blood vessels in the kidneys.
It is a rare condition but they did some genetic testing and found out that he actually had a congenital nephrotic syndrome. Rather than being caused by something on the outside, he was born with it.
“Congenital nephrotic syndrome is actually quite uncommon, even for rare diseases. Since I’ve been here at UW — in the seven years — [Kingston] has been the only case we’ve diagnosed,” Paloian explained.
After the diagnosis, they started looking for a suitable kidney transplant. There isn’t a cure for it, the transplant is the only hope.
At one time, Kingston was taking 20 different medications every day he was on a feeding tube. His kidneys had already been removed when he was one year old and he was on dialysis. Eventually, he had to go back to the hospital.
If that isn’t bad enough, he had developed a flesh-eating bacteria issue so he had to stay at the hospital for an entire year. This was in the pediatric intensive care unit and it was difficult to say where things were going with his health.
Tommy was even asked to sign a do not resuscitate but he said he would not do it. He said: “The way I saw it is, if [Kingston’s] willing to fight, I should be willing to fight and I’m his voice. He fought his way through it. How? None of us understand. But he’s here.”
Eventually, Kingston was able to make it through the infection and he managed to get healthy enough so he could go through with the transplant.
“I remember being in a locker room at the gym, trying to get dressed and trying not to cry in front of other guys in the locker room,” Tommy recalled. “I don’t think I’ve ever cried from being happy. So it was pretty amazing.”
These days, he is recovering nicely, thanks to the hard work of all of his doctors and the love of his family.
Source: GMA