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Adopted One-Year-Old Arkansas Boy In Need Of Kidney Transplant

WHITE HALL, Ark. (KTHV) — A one-year-old Arkansas boy is in need of a kidney transplant after he was born with chronic kidney disease. Jacob Trucks was adopted ...
Jacob Trucks

WHITE HALL, Ark. (KTHV) — A one-year-old Arkansas boy is in need of a kidney transplant after he was born with chronic kidney disease.

Jacob Trucks was adopted along with his brother Anthony earlier this year. While he looks like a normal baby on the outside, Jacob fights a daily battle.

“They gave him less than five percent chance to live when he was born,” Holly Reed said.

Jacob was born with a rare kidney condition called end-stage renal disease. Neither one of his kidney’s worked or produced urine. His adoptive parents, Holly Reed and Chris Trucks, say he had to have both his kidneys removed before they could even bring him home.

“Which means he works strictly off a dialysis,” Holly said.

But dialysis is hard on his little body.

“People have lived on dialysis for years but Jacob goes through 10 hours of dialysis every night,” Holly said. “At one time, we were taking 14 medications a day.”

But there is still a lot of hope for Jacob. He is almost big enough to get a kidney transplant.

“We’re hoping for a kidney transplant around the age of two,” Holly said.

So, his parents are starting the search now for a donor.

We’re hoping one of us can be a donor. We’re not biological, there’s other things that have to go into it,” Holly said. “If we had a donor that matched, that’s one more chance that Jacob could have.”

A match with a living donor would help Jacob stay off dialysis.

“Living donors kidney’s tend to last longer,” Holly said.

Holly says finding a match for Jacob, living or deceased, will be difficult. This is why she prays more people will consider becoming organ donors to help kids just like Jacob.

“You could go be a donor today and help one of the other 120-thousand other people waiting on a kidney,” she said.

Holly said Jacob has to be about 28 pounds and 33 inches tall before he can go through a kidney transplant. They are hoping he will be ready by April.

If you are interested in becoming an organ donor, visit unos.org. If you would like to help Jacob and stay in contact to see if you are a match visit www.COTAforjacobsbattle.com.

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