MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Murfreesboro family is calling on the public for help for their 12-year-old son. The boy was given a difficult diagnosis over the summer.
"You watch anything good lately?" Elijah Wilson asked his 12-year-old son Leaven, speaking to him through Zoom.
"Did you watch 'Puss in Boots' I bought you?"
"It was pretty amazing," Leaven answered with a smile.
A lot of these talks between Elijah and Leaven revolve around movies, Lego sets, and Transformers. Elijah said what his son truly loves is just being outdoors.
"This kid would rather be outside playing with toys and his friends than any electronic," Elijah said. "I like the fact he wants to be a true kid."
Something's in the way of Leaven getting to be a carefree kid. Last summer, he suddenly collapsed while at Target.
"We went to the doctor immediately," Leaven remembered.
"They told us he's got stage four kidney failure and that means he's only using 25% of his kidneys," Elijah continued. "Watching his energy and his happiness be choked down, it tears you apart cause as a parent, you can fix just about anything for them but that. I'm lost on that."
Leaven learned he'd need a kidney transplant.
"I was scared cause it's literally them cutting you open and taking one of your organs out and putting another one in," he said.
Still, Leaven knows he's got a lot of people looking out for him. Leaven is staying with his mom in Colorado right now. Dad Elijah in Murfreesboro is part of a community pushing to find a kidney donor who's healthy, probably not much older than 40, and with an O-positive blood type. The attention the effort's found to find that transplant is nothing short of amazing for both Elijah and Leaven.
"I think that's pretty crazy and kinda cool," Leaven said.
Elijah's hope is his son will have that donor by this summer.
The Children's Organ Transplant Association has a fund set up for the family to help offset transplant costs and medical bills. It can be found here. Those who want to reach out to the family about donation, email Leaveno11@gmail.com.
Potential donors should also visit this website.
