3-year-old member doing well after kidney transplant

Heather Boyd finally off dialysis, getting used to eating food

Three-year-old Heather Boyd is still getting used to eating food like other children her age, but running and climbing? No problem.

The Samaritan Ministries member and daughter of Ben and Sheri Boyd, featured in our April 2024 issue, received a donated kidney in May 2024. She needed the transplant due to kidney failure caused by a transfusion soon after she was born in October 2021.

Heather received nightly kidney dialysis for the first two-plus years of her life, as well as nutrition through a feeding tube instead of orally. Then a kidney became available from a donor list in early May.

“The Lord provided at the right time,” Ben said from the Boyd home in Oregon.

The transplant was performed in Seattle on May 3. Sheri said the hardest part was seeing her little girl go into the operating room looking “pretty good, and she came out just pretty miserable.”

Medical staff started “flooding” Heather’s body with fluids right away.

“It was a rough couple of weeks post-surgery, but we kind of knew and heard that it would be worse before it got better, and then after a couple of weeks, she was released,” Sheri said.

That first month or so post-operation was difficult, Heather’s mom added, especially because they had to stay close to the Seattle Children’s Hospital: Heather had frequent appointments, new medications, and many labs to be taken.

Frequent appointments and blood tests are still the rule, but the Boyds were able to return home.

And Heather still is working on figuring out the whole eating with her mouth and not a feeding tube thing—“She’s still pretty fearful,” Sheri said—so she still gets a lot of her nutrition through a feeding tube. And while fluids were somewhat limited before the surgery, she’s now being kept “flooded,” or well hydrated, to “try to keep that kidney healthy,” Sheri said.

All other signs are positive.

“She didn’t learn to walk until she was over two years old, but since the transplant, she’s basically gone from walking to running, trying to do all kinds of crazy moves, climbing things,” Sheri said. “It’s like she’s making up for lost time.”

The Boyds said the support of fellow Samaritan members has helped a lot through the process.

“We are grateful for their kindness and prayers,” Ben said.

More than 5,500 Shares have been assigned to Heather’s needs over the years. Some of those were sent by Samaritan members who serve in World News Group, which publishes World Magazine. When a World staff member was in the Boyds’ neighborhood meeting with some mutual friends, the family was able to meet him.

“That was a delightful providence,” Ben said.