MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — Instead of toys, a 2-year-old with a rare disease hopes to be gifted a kidney for his birthday.
At 18 weeks pregnant, Hope McCormack found out her baby would be born with a rare disorder called Prune Belly Syndrome.
"They pretty much told us that when he was born, he was going to struggle, and he was going to need help," McCormack said.
Brayan's prognosis didn't look good.
"But we knew that no matter the outcome, we would bring him into this world, and we would take the best care of him," McCormack said.
He defied the odds, and after numerous surgeries, Brayan still has a lot of energy to play.
Every night he needs dialysis, so Hope learned how to do it herself.
“He rarely cries or fusses. He’s very happy,” McCormack said.
But they knew that one day Brayan would need to find a kidney donor to save his life.
“He can’t go much longer without it, and we’ve been praying for them since he was born," McCormack said.
As they celebrated his 2nd birthday on Jan. 3, Hope prays there will be many more.
“He will be so thankful one day that someone came forward and was able to give him life,” McCormack said.
While on the transplant waitlist at Monroe Carrell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Hope is optimistic they'll find a match.
“It just brings joy to my heart that he is happy, and even though he’s been through all of this, you would never know,” McCormack said.
If you would like to donate or see if you could be a match, fill out this interest form. Make sure you list Brayan McCormack's name on the entry.
According to a transplant surgeon, after you fill out the interest form, they will contact you about testing. Generally, a kidney donor is only hospitalized for a couple of days following the transplant.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
