From elementary school, Nicholas’s best friend offers him kidney donations.
Nicholas, sixteen, started experiencing kidney problems following a Crohn’s disease diagnosis years ago. Although further testing revealed inflammation in his kidneys that was causing damage, routine lab work revealed his kidney function had dropped; the exact cause was never established.
He treated it with drugs and avoided dialysis. His kidney function dropped, though, after relocating to Chicago in early 2022 and starting treatment at Northwestern Medicine, and it was evident he would finally need a kidney transplant.
Nicholas’s Northwestern Medicine nephrologist, Cybele Ghossein, MD, is credited with helping him navigate the pre-transplant workup and prolonging the life of his native kidneys to the greatest extent possible.
Finding Nicholas a donor was difficult, though. Originally intended to be his donor, his mother later found herself unable to donate after learning of her breast cancer. Then Nicholas turned to the cluster of friends he had known since elementary school, growing up in the Indianapolis suburb of Zionville, Indiana. Pat Wise, 29-year-old buddy from Alexandria, Virginia, who works for a public health organisation, recalls receiving the SMS.
“My doctor says it’s time for me to start looking for kidney donors,” John texted me in my kitchen preparing dinner. Wise stated, staring at her phone and without thinking twice, filled out the form that evening. John is a friend rather well. I had one extra kidney; he needed one. I had to at least investigate my possible contribution to him.
After Wise was declared a match, he went to Chicago where one of his kidneys was taken out and replaced in Nicholas.