By Kate Miller, Managing Editor
On Jan. 18, 2016, Laurie Jansen was in a St. Louis hospital recovering from major surgery.It was a lifesaving procedure, but not to save her own life; it was to save the life of a stranger.Jansen, of Warrenton, donated a kidney to Blake Bahr, a toddler with end stage renal disease, or kidney failure.“We knew early on that Blake would need a lifesaving kidney transplant,” said his mother, Heather Bahr of Arnold. “During his first year of life, Blake spent 135 days in the hospital, faced five surgeries and spent over a year on peritoneal dialysis anywhere from 13 to 24 hours every day.”Jansen, a registered nurse, is a nurse at Black Hawk Middle School. She learned about Blake on Brave Blake’s Battle Facebook page.What she and his followers saw was a little boy who lived his life connected to tubes and machines and whose future was uncertain without a kidney transplant.“When you have a baby that is very sick and you don’t know what will happen, you learn very quickly to be grateful for the little things in life. You pray a lot and do your best to stay positive,” said Bahr. “Then having Laurie come along and offer to save our son’s life when she did not know our family prior just completely restored our faith in how miracles truly can happen.”But Jansen knows what it’s like to have a family member with kidney failure. Her mother received a transplant about 15 years ago.“I saw my mom become very sick, have a transplant and get better,” Jansen said.She added that so often people are bombarded with emotional images and messages that make us want to do something, but sometimes, “All you can do is pray. This time, I thought, there was something I could do,” Jansen said.“When I read about Blake, I knew I could help him,” she said.Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, SSM St. Louis University Hospital and the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) coordinated the organ donation process.Jansen met Blake and his family before the surgery and again a couple of weeks after the transplant. In those two weeks, she noticed a difference in Blake. He already looked healthier.“He was eating, drinking. The tubes were gone. His color was good. He wasn’t pale,” she said.He took his first bath at 14 months old, now that the tubes had been removed, and soon he was living life like a toddler should. His mom said his energy went up, he is walking and exploring, swimming. He is spending less time in medical offices and hospitals and the family is experiencing family things together.“To not be hooked up to dialysis every night is absolutely incredible and has given our family so much freedom to be able to travel and do normal things with our son,” Bahr said. “He even got to meet Mickey and see the beach on his second birthday.”Blake also is in touch with Jansen. The two families have become like family and meet from time to time at ballgames and home gatherings.“Seeing how far he’s come brings a lot of joy to me,” Jansen said.Jansen looks back at her decision to donate a kidney to a stranger and sees no sacrifice made on her part, yet she’s uncomfortable being called a hero.“My life hasn’t changed. Nothing’s changed. There were two weeks of recovery time, but that was nothing. It was something simple I could do to significantly change the life of this little boy and his family,” she said.A year later, “I want people to see him for what he is now: a happy, healthy little boy,” she said.For the families, the helping continues. They hope sharing their story will encourage more people to consider being organ donors. Also, the Bahrs started a collection called “Brave Books.” They collect books and activities to keep kids busy during dialysis treatments.“To our family, reading was a bit of an escape from what was going on around us, and now it continues to be something we enjoy together,” Bahr said.On Wednesday, the first anniversary of Blake’s transplant, Jansen and the Bahrs were planning to deliver about 1,000 books, iPads, crafts, puzzles, activity pads and other games to Cardinal Glennon Foundation to help kids like Blake.From left, Todd Jansen, Laurie Jansen holding Blake, and Blake's parents Heather and Nick Bahr. Submitted photo.
