NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Four-year-old Everett Drewes was born with two damaged kidneys. He had one transplant from a donor close to home, but it didn't work. His parents have been forced to go back to the drawing board, according to an article written by WSMV.
According to the WSMV, all Everett wants to do is help his parents, Mathew and Margaret Drewes, in the kitchen. However, they are turning the tables and asking for help with their son.
"You would have no idea what is going on with him health-wise or what he has been through in his four short years of life,” said Margaret.
Everett has a catheter inside of him since he has no kidneys and their foyer at the family's Nashville home is stacked high with boxes of dialysis fluid. WSMV said for 10 hours each night, Everett is hooked up to a dialysis machine in his bedroom.
“Since he has no kidneys he cannot produce urine so that is the only way that fluid can be pulled off his body,” said Margaret.
Medical supplies are fixtures in the family's home until Everett receives a new kidney. Last year, his father found out he was a match and donated one of his kidneys to his son on his third birthday, WSMV said.
“If you ask my friends if donating a kidney has slowed me down, I think they would agree it has not,” said Matthew.
Unfortunately, his father's kidney did not function as expected once the transplant was completed.
"Pretty quickly we figured out for reasons we don’t seem to understand, it wasn’t working properly,” said Matthew.
The Drewes family is now back to square one but continue to have faith they will find the right donor.
“We just need that one person so the more people who are willing to get tested we are confident we can find a good match,” said Margaret.
According to the family, the donor should be health, between the ages of 18-55 years old and a type A or O blood. To apply to be a match, those interested can go to this website.
