A 2-year-old who was born an extremely rare condition known as Prune Belly Syndrome can now eat food after a stranger donated a kidney.
Inside Edition on June 12 reported that Kaleb Perry, who was essentially born without any abdominal muscles, got a confirmation for a kidney.
“He doesn’t have a lot of structure because there’s no muscle there so I do think it’s heavy for him but it’s not painful at all,” his mother, Mandy Perry, of California, told the news outlet. “He’s never showed any pain toward it. It’s more just like a wrinkly floppy tummy with no muscle.”
She said that the condition can lead to kidney disease and kidney failure.
“Despite being in and out of the hospital, it’s never really stopped him from being joyful. His smile is so contagious. He really does love life,” his mother added. “If you want to see someone that loves life, just look at Kaleb.”
When his kidneys became an issue, his mother made a plea on social media.
“We had been looking for a donor for over a year already and just hadn’t had any luck,” Mandy said. “We got brave and asked if anybody would be willing to be tested on his Facebook page. We had actually a huge response—there was probably like 100 people that messaged me and said they wanted to get tested.”
According to ABC30 in Fresno, doctors told the family that he is in desperate need of the organ donation. “Kaleb’s labs the last couple of months have been getting worse and worse at a level where he would typically be on dialysis,” she said. “And as soon as that started happening, Suzie reached out to me.”
A woman, Susie LeRoy, offered her kidney.
“There are no words to show how much this means to us,” Mandy told ABC News. “Her act of love and selflessness—to be humble and surrendering and trusting this is the right thing to do.”
“She has three kids of her own and they were all around the same age as my kids so she was able to put herself in our shoes and just see how she would feel if she were in our position,” Mandy told Inside Edition. “She’s just an amazing person with so much grace towards us and just very selfless. It’s just amazing that she would sacrifice such a huge thing for someone she didn’t know.”
After the transplant, Mandy said the boy is finally able to enjoy food.
“It’s a huge deal to have your child eat,” she said. “He did not like ice cream before and now he loves it.”
Kevin Perry, his father, told ABC that he grateful for LeRoy’s donation.
“We definitely believe that God had a hand in all of this,” he said.
