Murfreesboro father in desperate search for kidney donor to save teenage son
The family has renewed pleas for help after the 13-year-old’s first transplant failed.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Wilson family is now in a desperate search to find a living kidney donor to save their son’s life, after his first kidney transplant failed.
Leaven Wilson, a 13-year-old from Murfreesboro, is in Stage 4 kidney failure. He is being treated at Denver Children’s Hospital.
Earlier this year, Leaven received a cadaver kidney transplant but experienced a blood clot that led to the kidney failing. Leaven’s father, Elijah Wilson, said that procedure was traumatic for all of them.
“It was pretty bad,” he said. “It’s one of those things that you can’t unsee.”
Since then, Elijah has been actively searching for a living donor, as living donor kidneys have better outcomes. His family does not qualify as donors themselves.
At Christmastime, Leaven will be put back on the cadaver donor list, but his dad is pleading for a living donor before then. Meanwhile, Leaven has to stay isolated, and Elijah said he now struggles with depression.
“It takes a big impact on a kid who would rather be outside playing with his buddies instead of living on electronics,” Elijah said. “He deals with a lot more frustration of, ‘Why do I have to go through this?’ and that’s a hard one because I have no answer for it.”
Elijah has turned to social media and community outreach to try and find a match. He’s put out yard signs, decals on his car, and even put up digital billboards in Colorado. He has been documenting Leaven’s journey with his disease for almost three years now, at one point gaining traction with the help of a popular TikToker, Justin Danger Nunley, who helped raise around $56,000 for the family’s medical expenses.
Leaven will need a kidney from a donor who is 40-years-old or younger and who has type O+ blood.
To learn about or to start the testing process of Leaven’s behalf, follow this link to UC Health. You will need his name, Leaven Wilson, and his date of birth, which is Jan. 21, 2011.
Elijah lives in Murfreesboro and commutes to Colorado as often as he can to be with Leaven and his mom, who’s caring for him there. To help with his travel costs and the family’s medical expenses, you can donate to Leaven’s AngeLink page.
Follow along with Leaven’s search on his Facebook page, which is updated frequently.
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