A mother of three is reintroducing her child to life. Carter Bish, the youngest of the Bish children, is receiving a kidney transplant thanks to Pamela Bish.
The Georgian mother is eager to undertake the live organ donation surgery, which is set for July 8.
However, the lengthy application process that preceded donation approval involved a number of tests and procedures.
‘It goes beyond simply being a contest. They also need to take other factors into account. I had to have two kidneys, they had to make sure.’
They had to check to make sure my kidneys were free of cysts. They had to check my blood pressure to make sure it wasn’t too high. They must confirm that I am not pre-diabetic’ said the mother.
Pamela, who vividly recalls the day she received the crucial phone call approving the organ donation, said:
‘So there were all kinds of things that I had to go through in order to make sure that I, as a donor, could continue to be healthy and live a healthy life with only one kidney.’
‘It was an instant relief and simply an instant sense of serenity and calmness when I received that last call saying, ‘I have excellent news. You have been approved.’
Then the enthusiasm suddenly began to grow, ‘According to Good Morning America, she continued.
Carter, Pamela’s 2-year-old son, has struggled with a number of health difficulties since even before his birth, and she wants to do everything she can for him.’
Pamela described the terrifying experience as follows: ‘I went in for my 20-week ultrasound and the radiologist came in and they said that Carter, there was a lot wrong with him and he was not compatible with life, that he wouldn’t make it, that he wouldn’t be able to live because I didn’t have much amniotic fluid.’
‘His kidneys, they claimed, just looked terrible. They appeared to be completely filled with cysts and fluid.’
Pamela and her husband Dale were horrified to learn this about their unborn child. They had come to Dacula, Georgia, from Pittsburgh in an effort to receive a second opinion from The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Then it was revealed that Cartner had a urinary obstruction.
‘Hopkins simply stated they wouldn’t recommend any other interventions because he does have a small amount of fluid and if he has enough to just breathe it in and develop his lungs sufficiently.
He could make it through all of those weeks, between weeks 20 and 30, when I would have some fluid and then it would go down.
He would probably require dialysis and a transplant in the future. But we had to wait and see, and that was perhaps the hardest part—carrying him while not knowing whether we would have a child to bring home’ opined Pamela.
However, Carter defied all odds and lived to see the birth. He was given kidney dialysis right away and put on a ventilator.
He has also had at least 11 surgeries since then. However, his situation quickly became worse, and he ended up needing a new kidney. Now, Pamela wants to offer the support he needs to live a long, healthy life.
‘You wouldn’t notice anything wrong with him if you saw him today. He is the most adorable, cute, and kind young man. Never does he stop talking. Everyone around him has fallen in love with him’ She said.