In The News
School of Medicine in the News
« Return to Previous Page Release Date: 06/02/2006Treasure Coast News
Jeremy Foley spent the early years of life on soccer fields, a good enough player to be chosen as goalie on most of his teams, until a life- threatening medical condition knocked him out of the game at age 8. Now 15, he's making a comeback. Not just in sports, but in aspects of life as complicated as deciding whether new friends want to know that he spent almost two years being nourished through tubes and waiting for his body to mend after organ transplant surgery.
"I try to get to know them first, before I tell them," Jeremy said. "When I get to know what kind of friend they are, I'll know when to start talking about it." Later this month, Jeremy is going to Louisville, Ky., to visit friends who need no such explanations. He will be joining children and teens from across Florida participating in the National Kidney Foundation's U.S. Transplant Games. The June 16-21 games will be Jeremy's third time at the biannual event, in which more than 2,000 athletes of all ages participate.
Jeremy and 25 other Florida participants ages 3 to 18 will have the extra thrill of flying to the games aboard the Orlando Magic basketball team's jet. Its use is being donated by team owner Rich DeVos, who received a transplanted heart nine years ago.
Jeremy plans to do a five kilometer walk with his dad, Larry Foley, on opening day. Later in the week, he plans to compete in the 50-meter freestyle swimming event after practicing in the family's backyard pool.
But he's really concentrating on the bowling competition. Jeremy has been practicing at Superplay USA lanes in Port St. Lucie under the guidance of bowling pro Jim Byrnes.
"This kid is absolutely great," Byrnes said. "When he started four weeks ago, he was bowling about 40. Now he's up around 130.
"We drilled him a new ball the other day, a little stronger ball," Byrnes added. "We're going to load him up!"
Jeremy's life changed forever in October 1999, when he awoke with severe stomach cramps. His small intestine had become twisted and tissue died from lack of circulation.
Marilyn Foley, Jeremy's mother, said 70 percent of Jeremy's small intestine had to be surgically removed. He was put in a medically induced coma for 43 days because doctors didn't want him to move and because the pain would have been unbearable, she said.
Doctors created openings in Jeremy's chest and side, through which his parents fed him liquid nutrition. It would be 14 months before Jeremy again swallowed anything.
The Foley family was living in Greenville, N.C., when Jeremy was stricken. They moved to Hollywood after identifying the University of Miami/Jackson Medical Center as one of only three places in the United States where Jeremy could get the transplant surgery he needed to resume a normal life.
The transplant organ arrived after a tragedy in Idaho, where a boy lost his life in a Fourth of July car crash. Organ donors remain anonymous to recipients and their families. The Foleys were allowed to pass a letter through channels to the boy's family telling how much their sacrifice has meant to them.
Jeremy leafs through a photo album to a picture of him and another little boy standing together in the hallway of Jackson Memorial. Organs harvested from the same crash victim saved this friend's life, Jeremy said.
The Transplant Games open with a procession of both living donors — people who have given one of their two kidneys or part of another organ to loved ones — and the families of deceased organ donors. Marilyn wants to put these families together with people like Jeremy.
"Even through they've lost someone they love, I think it's good for them to see these kids and adults doing so well with transplanted organs," she said. "It's kind of a connection for everyone."
Organ transplants
- Transplant candidates on waiting list: 92,379 as of Saturday.
- Transplants Jan. 1 through May 26: 4,508
- Organs received from living and deceased donors, Jan. 1 through May 26: 2,360.
