A mother's desperate call on social media reunited her with a friend that she and her husband hadn't seen in years - and gave their two-and-a-half year old son a second chance at life.
The past few years have been filled with struggle for high school sweethearts Ryan and Ashley Wagner, of Johnsburg, Illinois. Just days after they found out she was pregnant with their first child, Ryan was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer.
"They had to do immediate surgery because the tumor had perforated my colon," Ryan said, adding that he has since been through 71 rounds of chemotherapy.
Then came more bad news: Ryan's stage 4 cancer would not be curable. And at just eight weeks old, their newborn son Miles was diagnosed with a very rare kidney disorder called hyperoxaluria.
"Our lives for the last three years have really been focused on chemotherapy for Ryan, and dialysis for Miles," said Ashley.
Miles underwent a liver transplant last year, but he also needed a kidney transplant. Ashley put the word out on the family's Facebook page, and their prayers were answered by an old friend from high school who offered to donate one of hers.
"Two things stuck out to me," Liz Wolodkiewicz said of her reaction to Ashley's plea. "One was that I'm his exact blood type, and the second was her question, 'Is it on your bucket list to save a life?' And I thought that should be on everyone's bucket list." [[413101153, C]]
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"It was a shock because she didn't have to do that," Ashley said. "It is so surreal to know someone was so selfless that they made decision to donate their organ to our child."
The successful six-hour kidney transplant surgery happened Monday at Lurie Children's Hospital.
"Everything did go well," surgeon Dr. Riccardo Superina said after the procedure. "He is recovering very well."
"He's going to do things that normal kids do, that he didn't have the opportunity to do," added Dr. Craig Langman.
Doctors call Miles a one-in-a-million kid who continues to inspire people - most of all, his dad. [[413091683, C]]
"He is just so happy with everything that he does that it would make me feel guilty about not having the same happiness, even though I'm going through my own struggles," Ryan said.
These days, the Wagner family uses the word gratitude a lot, feeling thankful for the medical staff and their selfless friend Liz for giving them such an incredible gift.
Doctors say there are more than 100,000 people waiting for a kidney in the United States, and living donors have the best outcomes.
"Organ donation saves lives," Ashley said at a news conference, hoping to encourage others to do what Liz did for her family.
Miles will need to stay in the hospital for at least two weeks, doctors said, but his parents are sure that once he is released, their son will continue to inspire people.
