>> I went to the hospital, and the doctor said, "You're going to be delivering your
baby now."
>> She went into preterm labor and just --
>> I was 27 weeks pregnant, scared out of my mind.
>> I'll never forget --
>> I'm thinking, "I have 13 more weeks to go."
>> The day that Mitch was born.
>> It was an emergency C-section.
>> And Jen looked at me and said, "Oh, no."
I'll never forget that, for the rest of my life.
>> Mitch was born two pounds, two ounces.
>> From that point on, it was serious business.
[ Music ]
>> Mitchell suffered an unusual complication of renal vein thrombosis.
And what that meant is he developed blood clots in his kidneys, and the kidneys stopped
functioning.
>> And had to be taken to the medical center right away.
And when we got there is when we got the news from Dr. Wassner [phonetic] about, "He's a
very sick child.
We're not sure if we can save him, but we're going to do our very best."
>> This was probably the hardest thing above all.
The first day that he got there, we were told he wasn't going to live through the night.
>> And the words from Dr. Wassner were, "We're not sure if he's going to make it through
the night."
>> There was a man telling me that my child wasn't going to live through the night.
I was just like --
>> And it hit us.
[ Music ]
I'm sorry.
>> Mitchell was not near death.
He was actually in the process of dying.
[ Music ]
We had the involvement of pediatric nephrology, the head of pediatric surgery, the neonatologist.
There must have been, at one time or another, 15 nurses doing all sorts of things to save
this kid's life.
And we got lucky.
It worked.
[ Music ]
>> The day he was discharged -- man, I couldn't get out of that hospital fast enough.
People were chasing me down the hallway, "Well, you've got to sign this, Mr. [inaudible].
We need you to..."
I'm like, "You better catch up, because I'm not turning around."
>> To us, a normal life with him is dialysis every night for 11 hours.
>> It all gets done at night.
We have a very -- he has a very strict regimen.
>> His food, you know, through a tube.
[ Music ]
>> These bags are full of the solution that actually gets pumped into his body.
So it all goes in and out through the machine, in and out of him all night long.
And then he's got a CD pump too.
I'm packing -- even this table -- I want it all out of the house.
When this is done, I don't want to be reminded of any of this crap.
I want it all gone.
I want a healthy baby sleeping upstairs in his room, not in my bed.
It's time to move forward, you know.
What's in the past, we've already done that.
Time to move forward.
Yeah, we're late.
>> Yeah.
>> Hi!
>> Today we're here and getting ready for a transplant.
His transplant, my donation.
>> Jen gave Mitch the gift of life through the form of a kidney.
>> Being a donor for Mitch was...
>> Scary.
>> No question.
>> You know, not just my child, but my wife is also going to go through major surgery,
so.
>> Yeah, having both of us go on the same day...
>> It's going to be nuts.
>> I'm praying that everybody sticks around for Doug, because he's got to be -- going
to need it the most.
[ Music ]
[ Crying ]
>> Let's go say hi to Mommy.
I think Mommy needs to say hi to you.
Blow him a kiss.
Say, "See you on the other side, Mommy."
>> We'll take her from here.
>> Alright, baby.
Be strong.
Okay.
I love you.
>> Love you.
[Inaudible] Alright.
Say bye to Nanny.
Say, "See you later."
Say, "We'll see you later."
Yeah.
Get ready to go.
>> Okay.
Go and say goodbye.
>> Bye for now.
>> Say bye to your Daddy?
All right.
Come with me.
Let's go for a ride.
Say, Bye-bye.
We'll see you later."
>> See you later.
Bye-bye.
>> All right.
>> Bye-bye.
Alright.
>> Hey, baby.
>> Hi.
>> I love you.
You did good, hon.
[Phone Rings] Yeah.
[Inaudible] Wow.
[Inaudible] Fantastic.
They said the surgeon just came down.
They said that the kidney I guess is completely hooked up now, and it's producing urine.
So I guess that's about as good as you can get.
You gave him the kidney, one that works.
[Giggling]
>> Hello.
[Inaudible] This is so nice, to bring him out here, watching him just thrive and being
the normal two-year-old that he should be.
[Singing]
>> Baby, don't cry.
It's alright.
We can start all over again.
>> He's my hero.
I mean, seriously, he's -- the kid is tough as nails.
[ Music ]
>> It's a new morning.
Every time when he gets older, he's got an attitude problem, we'll say, "Yup.
That's your mother's kidney, right there."
[ Inaudible Singing ]
[Singing]
>> We can start all over again.
[ Music ]
It's a new morning.
We can start all over again.
>> Yes, Mitchell is a miracle.
[ Music ]