Comes from the transplanted children whose families lived in our transplant apartments over the last eight years. Their stories are inspirational. Their fights are epic. Their recoveries are amazing. Their parents and grandparents are heroes. They are loved and never to be forgotten.
Bentley was a seemingly happy, healthy 10-year-old in the spring of 2021. He was playing his favorite sport, baseball, starting second baseman for the eventual championship winners of the 10U league. All seemed well until he started showing signs that something wasn’t just right. Waking up feeling tired. Struggling to take deep breaths. Not wanting to eat because his stomach hurt. We took him to Urgent Care, but nothing showed up. We then tried to get an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist but the next available was two months out. We were then advised to take him to the ER in our area. On July 9th we took him there and tests determined that Bentley had CHF/myocarditis and he was sent straight to CHOA in an ambulance. We were in shock! After his initial evaluation and a dramatic turn in the wrong direction, it was decided he needed a heart transplant. He received a heart pump, LVAD to maintain his healthy organs while waiting for a suitable donor. On top of everything, after one successful surgery, Bentley had a light stroke affecting the left side of his body. Days of therapy lay ahead.
After weeks in CICU and CACU, Bentley was released to stay with us in a wonderful apartment graciously provided to us by Mary Evans and her foundation. On October 3rd, we got the call that a suitable donor heart had become available. We all cried not only with joy but also with sorrow knowing that someone had lost a loved one for this to happen.
Bentley was finally released from the hospital to go home on December 3rd. He is doing wonderfully well and was able to play baseball this spring for the first time in three years. One of the things he looks forward to now is going to Camp Twin Lakes every summer. He first attends Camp Braveheart where he spends a week with other kids just like him. Then he attends Camp Independence where transplant kids stay together. He doesn’t want to come home from either camp! His goal is to be a counselor one day at the Camp.
Paisley Rae Brown was born in kidney failure, resulting in nightly dialysis from the time she was born until she received a life-saving kidney transplant from her dad 4 years later. She and our family remained inpatient at the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta for ten days until we were discharged. Post transplant appointments and lab work are required almost daily for the first few months, and living over two hours away from the kidney clinic in Atlanta, this inconvenience really could have dampened Paisley’s progress and our family’s livelihood. With the Jeffrey Campbell Evans Foundation, Paisley and our family were able to stay in a safe, clean, and completely furnished two-bedroom apartment at no expense within 15 minutes of the hospital for Paisley’s post op appointments. This was a game changer! I was also pregnant in the third trimester with Paisley’s new baby sister, so this apartment housing was the biggest blessing to our family! Without this resource and amazing foundation, Paisley’s recovery would not have been as smooth as it was, and for that we are so eternally grateful!! She is now seven years old, is in the first grade, does gymnastics and plays t-ball, and is truly living her best life with her healthy kidney! Thanks to the Jeffrey Campbell Evans Foundation, the recovery process and Paisley’s overall progress during that critical timeframe were the best experience we could have in such an exciting, but scary new normal for P and our family! Thank you so much for all that you do!”
