Help Save a Life: Oklahoma Family Seeks Kidney Donor for 9-Year-Old Son

An Oklahoma boy is back on the organ transplant waiting list after his first kidney transplant failed. Now, his family is hoping a living donor will come forward to help save his life.

We met up with Collin Urizar at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health in Oklahoma City, where he had his rod and reel in hand.

“He likes to fish,” said Collin’s mother Niomi James. “It doesn't matter if it's a lake, a creek or a ditch, if it's got some water in it, he's trying to put that pole in it.”

These days he’s ready to reel in something else.

“A kidney,” Collin said with a smile.

Dr. Ikuyo Yamaguchi, a pediatric nephrologist at Oklahoma Children's Hospital, explains why Collin is difficult to match and emphasizes the urgent need for living donors to step forward.

At just 9 years old, he has already endured 44 surgeries, years of dialysis, and a failed kidney transplant. Niomi said her son was born with multiple health issues including spina bifida and renal failure. He had surgery 12 hours after birth and spent 90 days in the NICU. Colling received a kidney as a toddler, which lasted 5 and half years before failing due to multiple viruses. Now he’s back on dialysis.

“He's been fighting his whole life,” said Niomi. “I'm sad all the time, I try not to cry and I’m not gonna cry now, but he's my number one priority and we do everything for him.”

The family drives six hours round trip several times a week so Collin can receive dialysis at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital, home to the state’s only pediatric dialysis and transplant program.

“It's hard to watch him be hooked up to the machine three times a week, it's hard,” Niomi said tearfully. 

Collin has been waiting for another kidney for a year and a half, but his high antibody count makes it difficult.

“It's a harder match and so you need a larger pool to get the right one,” said Collin’s dialysis nurse Nathan Pharr-Mahurin. 

That’s why advocates like Brian Martindale, head of Kidneys for Kids and a living donor since 2013, are spreading Collin’s story.

“There's between 1,500 to 2,000 children today who need a transplant like Collin right now to save their life,” Martindale said.

Martindale saved a 10-year-old girl by becoming a living donor. Now grown, the two still keep in touch. It’s this experience that has motivated him to tour 30 cities through the nonprofit’s Driving for Life campaign, to raise awareness and inspire donors.

“A lot of times adults think their kidney is a lot bigger than a child's so for Collin you're giving him your adult sized kidney and he grows into it and that will return his full life function, and he'll go on without dialysis to hopefully go on to live a very healthy very long life,” Martindale said.

Dr. Narendra Battula, Surgical Director of the Kidney Transplant Pediatric Program and Director of Transplant at OU Health talks about Oklahoma’s Only Pediatric Kidney Transplant program and how to become a donor.

When asked what’s going to happen when he gets a new kidney, Collin said, “I could do whatever I want.”

And that includes swimming and eating French fries, two things he can’t do while on dialysis.

“It's just a hard journey,” Niomi said. “You see him, you see how happy he is, he makes it all worth it, makes us laugh and smile, he steals the room for sure.”

While Collin keeps spirits high, his family hopes someone out there will give Collin the second chance he needs.

“When we finally get that ‘yes’ it's going to be amazing,” Niomi said. “It will be amazing for sure.”

If you're interested in becoming an altruistic donor, click here: Living Donor Program - Organ Transplants in Oklahoma | OU Health. You can also call 405-271-7498 and select the living donor option. If you’d like to see if you’re a match for Collin, be sure to mention his name. For more information on Kidneys for Kids, click here: https://kidneysforkids.org/