Toddler in waiting game for a double transplant
Contra Costa Times | Gary Peterson
It's a game they know well. Julius Heilman leans forward near where 21-month-old Matthew Ouimet is seated, a ballpoint pen conspicuously tucked in the breast pocket of his lab coat. In a ritual honed over months, Matthew impishly "steals" the pen. It's difficult to tell which of the two enjoys the game more.
In that moment, Matthew is the epitome of a bright-eyed, adorable toddler -- by turns busy, curious, fun-loving, restless. He swipes at an iPad's screen like a lifelong techie. He performs the seated dance his family has dubbed the "wiggle butt." He uses the pen to draw squiggly lines on his bedsheets.
"He's as normal as can be," said his father, Kelly Ouimet. "Until you pull his shirt off."
Two dialysis catheters protrude from Matthew's chest. He has a feeding tube implanted in the left side of his torso. A peritoneal catheter snakes along the right side of his abdomen and into his stomach, just above the navel.
Matthew was born with primary hyperoxaluria Type I, a condition that leaves his liver unable to remove oxalates from his blood. Over time, excess oxalates accumulate in other parts of the body, forming crystals and clogging small blood vessels. Kidney issues are often the first warning sign. Matthew was 4 months old when he experienced renal failure. He undergoes four-hour dialysis treatments six days a week at UCSF Medical Center, where Heilman is the patient care manager of the pediatric dialysis unit.
In that moment, Matthew is the epitome of a bright-eyed, adorable toddler -- by turns busy, curious, fun-loving, restless. He swipes at an iPad's screen like a lifelong techie. He performs the seated dance his family has dubbed the "wiggle butt." He uses the pen to draw squiggly lines on his bedsheets.
"He's as normal as can be," said his father, Kelly Ouimet. "Until you pull his shirt off."
Two dialysis catheters protrude from Matthew's chest. He has a feeding tube implanted in the left side of his torso. A peritoneal catheter snakes along the right side of his abdomen and into his stomach, just above the navel.
Matthew was born with primary hyperoxaluria Type I, a condition that leaves his liver unable to remove oxalates from his blood. Over time, excess oxalates accumulate in other parts of the body, forming crystals and clogging small blood vessels. Kidney issues are often the first warning sign. Matthew was 4 months old when he experienced renal failure. He undergoes four-hour dialysis treatments six days a week at UCSF Medical Center, where Heilman is the patient care manager of the pediatric dialysis unit.
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