Tyler Bellow Testimonial

In Louisiana, over 2,000 individuals a year wait on life-saving organ transplants, but for Tyler Bellow, Patient Care Observer at South Campus, there was no waiting. Tyler was diagnosed in vitro with a kidney malformation. At birth, in January of 1997, he was diagnosed with a left multi cystic kidney and a right hydro nephrotic kidney, both unable to function enough to sustain life. For the first 1 ½ years of his life, he was kept alive with peritoneal dialysis which filtered his blood. Luckily for Tyler, his mother, Michelle, was a perfect match for kidney donation, so in June, 1998 Tyler received his first kidney transplant.

His surgery was performed at Children’s hospital in New Orleans and at the time, was the youngest and smallest transplant candidate that they had ever treated. The transplant was very successful and Tyler lived a normal healthy life for 22 years. The average transplanted kidney lasts for about 15-20 years.

In 2019, Tyler began having a decline in his kidney function and increased blood pressure. His physician initially tried medication to keep his kidney healthy, but unfortunately, the decline continued and he was placed on dialysis again in June of 2020.

Fortunately, for Tyler, his family came to his rescue yet again. This time, it was his younger brother Nick, who is also a Patient Care Observer at South Campus, who was able to donate one of his kidneys. In March 2021, Tyler received his second successful kidney transplant at Ochsner Health in New Orleans. Today, Tyler and Nick are recovering and plan to return to work later this month.

Organ donation saves lives! If you are interested in becoming an organ donor,

visit: https://www.donatelifela.org/