This week marked an important anniversary for one local toddler.
At just 2 years old, Blake Bahr celebrated one full year with a new, healthy kidney.
On January 18, 2015, the Arnold toddler got a kidney donation from a stranger. Now, that donor from Warren County, Laurie Jansen, is part of the Bahr family.
“It is amazing to see the changes in him,” Jansen said. “To see him being so mobile, to see him talking and walking.”
Bahr’s parents, Heather and Chris Bahr, say their son is a busy 2-year-old boy.
“He’s learning how to walk. He’s eating everything in sight — no more feeding tubes, no more dialysis!” Heather said.
To celebrate a full year of good health, and to honor the donor who gave the gift of life, the Bahr’s decided to give back to the team at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Hospital.
In recent months, the family collected more than 1,000 books donated from friends, colleagues, and family members. Wednesday night, they dropped off boxes of those books and activities to be delivered to other children still on dialysis at the hospital.
“They're not getting to run outside and play with their friends and do things that normal kids get to do all the time and it’s just something to help them pass the time and just not think about what they’re going through day to day,” Heather Bahr said.
“Books really gave Blake a distraction and was a way to escape for our family, and so to be able to give those back to other kids — its awesome.”
The gathering at the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation building near the hospital also became a reunion for the healthcare workers who treated Blake and Laurie during the transplant process.
“When you’re in the hospital for so long, they become like a second family,” Bahr said. “And it’s great to see everybody again and to give back to the hospital.”
Laurie Jansen was inspired to donate her kidney to Blake after she read his story online. Jansen tried to donate a kidney to her own mother when she was ill, but her mother wouldn’t let her. In Blake, she still found a way to help.
“I would like to think that [my mother] is looking down and has had a big hand in all of this and is very proud,” Jansen said
Both are healthy now, and hope their story will inspire others to consider organ donation.
“If we can help one other child, or adult, not to be sitting on the transplant list waiting for an organ,” Jansen said.
