January 25, 2017
A stranger’s gift of life
Around Town Volunteer needed for O’Fallon’s newly established Cultural Arts Commision P.3
MDC reminds residents to exercise caution during and after ice storms. P.5
St. Louis honors Dr. King. P.8
Moore on Life Leader of the pack P.6 Cover-kidney1 Laurie Jansen holds Blake Bahr, the little boy to whom she donated a kidney. The two had never met until Jansen read about Blake’s medical needs on Facebook.
Submitted photo
Warrenton woman donates kidney to one-year-old she had never met By Brett Auten
A medical battle
There were complications with the catheter leaking so the family was sent home to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in give Baby Blake time to heal before the diSt. Louis was the location last week for a alysis process was started full force. special reunion. Two weeks later, they returned to the A year ago, on Jan. 18, 2016, a virtual hospital to start dialysis. In total, the Bahrs stranger donated a kidney to the Bahr fam- spent two and a half months in the hospital ily of Arnold and gave this family the gift of to work Blake up to a large enough volume life to their then 14-month-old son, Blake. so they could eventually use a home dialyHeather and Nick Bahr were told they sis machine for 16 hours a day. During this were having a baby boy, but they also found time Blake contracted a respiratory virus out the baby only had one kidney and the that landed him in the hospital’s Pediatric kidney he had was in bad shape due to severe Intensive Care Unit for 10 days. It was durhydronephrosis. Baby Bahr was monitored ing this PICU stay Blake was tested by gein utero around the clock and the medical netic doctors who discovered the baby had team decided to deliver at 36 weeks. In No- two, rare genetic conditions, Jacobson Synvember 2014, Blake Bahr was born. On his drome and Overgrowth Syndrome. second day of life, Blake went into kidney During his first year of life, Blake spent failure and was taken by ambulance to Car- 135 days in the hospital, faced five surgeries dinal Glennon. At three days old, Blake had and spent over a year on peritoneal dialysis his first surgery to place a dialysis catheter. anywhere from 13 to 24 hours every day. Blake needed dialysis to survive because Heather and Nick started thinking about the one kidney he was born with was only the mounting expenses the family had enfunctioning at seven-to-10-percent and the countered to date and would continue to Bahrs spent six weeks in the hospital’s Neo- encounter due to Blake’s inevitable kidney natal Intensive Care Unit. transplant. It was during this time that the family began to research the Children’s Or-
Business Edward Jones and its associates contribute more than $976,000 to Arts and Education Council in 2016. P.9
Movie
gan Transplant Association (COTA). There were many family members, church friends, work colleagues and neighbors who were very anxious to find something they could do to help. Early on in Blake’s transplant journey, Heather used a Facebook page called “Brave Blake’s Battle” to regularly share updates about Blake’s health as they waited for ‘the call’ that a kidney had been found. Brave Blake’s Battle Facebook effort grew exponentially and had followers from all over the world.
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An unexpected hero
Weather
One of those followers was Laurie Jansen of Warrenton. One night, Jansen was having a tough time sleeping so she pulled out her iPad and was drawn to the Brave Blake’s Battle Facebook page. Jansen reached out to Heather and offered to become a living kidney donor. Blake’s story hit home with Jansen. In 1997, Jansen’s mother received a kidney from a deceased donor and did very well post-transplant. Seventeen years after that transplant, Laurie’s mother needed a second kidney and Laurie wanted to be her mom’s donor. However, her mom passed See KIDNEY page 2
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