Londyn is an 8 year old little girl that lives in Roanoke, Virginia. She is very creative, drawing and singing every day. She is a free spirit that truly enjoys life, playing outside with her four legged best friend Maya. Like most young girls, she loves Taylor Swift and adores Dolly Parton.

On August 8, 2024 she started to develop belly pains. By the next day, she was in so much pain she asked to go to the hospital. Upon arrival, we learned that Londyn had a severe case of colitis, but at the time did not know what had caused it. On August 12th, we found out that she had contracted e.coli. The doctors told us to keep her as hydrated as possible because the type of e.coli she contracted carried Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS). But no matter how much she drank, the amount of diarrhea prevented her from staying hydrated.

By August 16, she had stopped peeing and we took her to the E.R. There we found out her kidneys had completely shut down and she had HUS. She was very sick, and at this point was beginning to be confused. She was taken by ambulance to a major hospital two hours away immediately. There she spent a week in the PICU, receiving around the clock dialysis to begin filtering the toxins out of her body. Her BUN and creatinine levels were off the charts. She was no longer our happy go lucky little girl. She was confused and very angry because of the toxins in her brain. This was the beginning of her 26 day stay in the hospital.

Once she was stable enough to be moved to the regular floor, she continued to need multiple dialysis treatments each week. She required 3 units of blood. She struggled with her oxygen and was so full of fluid she didn’t look like herself. She went 2 full weeks without peeing until her kidneys began to start working again. At that point, they did a kidney biopsy to see how much kidney function she had left. Unfortunately, the damage was worse than expected. She had lost at least 50% of kidney function that she would not get back. We were told in order for her to have a normal life, she would need to gain back at-least 30% kidney function.

When we left the hospital on September 12, she was weak and continued to need dialysis in order to keep the toxicity levels manageable. Yet, she was so excited to be home again with her family all together. At this point she began home-based learning because it was too big of a risk for her to attend school in person with a hemodialysis port. If she would have gotten an infection, it could have been lethal. On top of that, if she gets sick at all, it impacts her kidney function. This has been the hardest part for our social butterfly.

In November, Londyn had her dialysis port removed because she was no longer getting any benefits from it. Dialysis had pulled as much off of her as it could. It was at this time we found out she only gained about 18% of kidney function back. She is now considered to have End Stage Renal Disease (ERSD) and needs a kidney transplant.

Londyn was a healthy, happy little girl prior to this. The worst sickness she ever had was strep throat. E.coli has stripped her childhood from her. Her life has been turned upside down. At 8 years old, she has high blood pressure that has to be monitored daily and has to take 8 pills a day just to maintain what kidney function she has left. She has to drink 2.5 liters of water everyday in order to keep her kidneys functioning. Every two weeks she requires a shot to keep her red blood up because she is so anemic. She constantly gets labs drawn. She is exhausted. While it’s hard to believe it, Londyn is one of the lucky ones. Most children that develop HUS end up with severe brain trauma from the toxins and significant heart and lung issues. For Londyn, the blood clots from HUS solely attacked her kidneys. Besides her kidneys, she is healthy and is the perfect candidate for a kidney transplant.

Because of her age, it would be best for Londyn to receive a living kidney instead of one from a deceased donor. Living kidneys have a higher success rate than deceased kidneys. We are asking for the biggest gift, the gift of life for our little girl. If you would be willing to see if you could potentially give her the biggest gift, please see the link below to fill out a living donation form online.

Here is further information:

People do not have to be the same blood type as we can talk with them about the Paired donor exchange and the voucher program. Londyn is O+.

Age: A donor must be at least 18 years old and graduated high school. Max age is 50 years old. If you are over 50 and would like to be tested, then they would have to do the Paired Donor Exchange or Voucher program.

BMI max is 35 and this is based on a person's height and weight.

If you meet the requirements, there will be NO out of pocket expense for you. Our insurance will cover 100% of the costs of the donor.

And if you can’t donate, all we ask is that you share her story. Please spread the word to your friends and family, to your social media accounts, to your religious organization, and to your work community. The more people that know about Londyn’s story, the higher chance she has of finding a match!

And lastly, please continue to lift her up in your prayers. Londyn deserves to have her childhood back and she deserves to live a long life to its fullest.

With much love,

Chelsea and Kyle