This Mother’s Day was extra special for a Texas grandmother and her young granddaughter. “I feel like I’m the one that got the most blessing out of this…How many other grandmas got the chance to give a gift that is going to change this little girl’s life?”
When Kate Boddie was 20 weeks pregnant with her baby girl, Clara, she found out there were problems with the child’s kidneys. She was induced at 36 weeks and Baby Clara was put in the NICU. When she was only six days old she started dialysis. The Boddies knew their daughter would need a kidney transplant.
Each night they hooked her up to a dialysis machine and began the search for a donor. Neither parent was a match. However, grandmother, Cindy Smith, was a match and immediately knew she wanted to help her granddaughter.
Doctors said a genetically-related match would be the best for Clara. Because Smith was in good health she was an ideal candidate. Grandmother and granddaughter had successful surgeries on March 26, 2015. For the first time, the 21-month-old girl can eat solid foods. Her doctors say she will have a normal and healthy childhood.
Boddie said this experience has redefined motherhood for her:
“People are like ‘Oh I’m so sorry you’re going through this,’ but honestly, I don’t think people get to see how much their mom loves them firsthand like this, and I’ve got tangible proof in the form of my daughter because [my mom] saved her life…It’s been tough but it’s amazing and it’s really brought our family close together.”
Grandmother says there was no question when it came to donating her kidney to her granddaughter. “She is the absolute light of my life. I couldn’t think of anything that I wouldn’t do for her, so this was a natural extension of that.”
