10-year-old Jake Algerio of Honesdale awaits donor for kidney transplant

Jake Algerio lives in Honesdale with his family. The 10-year-old is a fourth grader at Lakeside Elementary School who, like other kids, enjoys the playground, gaming, and Spider-Man. Some may know his mother from serving patients at a medical practice in Hawley. This time around, Jake is the one in need of medical care, in desperate need of a new kidney.

His mother Brianne Algerio's employer, The Wright Center for Community Health, sent out information about Jake in the hope help can be found.

The Wright Center described the scene at Honesdale's Central Park one day, as Jake dashed around the picnic table where Brianne sat, his best friend in close pursuit. The children paused to play with the giant tic-tac-toe game on the playground equipment and headed to the slides.

This brought tears to Brianne's eyes, who as stated in the press release, commented, "I’m so grateful I didn’t listen to the doctors. They gave him two months to live. We’re at 10 years."

Brianne is a certified medical assistant at The Wright Center for Community Health in Hawley.

Smaller than an aspirin

The press release states that his kidneys leave him reliant on nightly peritoneal dialysis, desperately needing a new kidney. One of his kidneys is only a centimeter long; an aspirin tablet is not much bigger. The other kidney is half that size. The average kidney of a child his age should be about 9.42 centimeters (3.7 Inches).

A catheter inserted in his belly facilitates the five-hour dialysis while he sleeps, filtering out toxins within his body from the lining of his abdomen wall, according to the press release.

Jake has already endured hospitalizations, infections, surgeries and a failed kidney transplant five years ago. These are examples, the release notes, of the boy's resiliency and unwavering strength.

Meanwhile, Jake does not miss joys of childhood, though he cannot participate in Little League and traditional sports. He loves virtual adventure gaming, playing with friends or his older brother, Ryan, 17, teasing his two younger sisters, Zoey, 6, and Emma, 3, and enjoying his dogs, Bell and Tony Baloney.

Despite extensive health challenges, he works hard at school and even taught himself cursive.

Realized before birth

His condition was realized before he was born; a serious bladder obstruction threatened his life in utero. After weighing options, Algerio, 20 weeks pregnant, underwent a minimally invasive surgery to insert bladder shunts, catheters inserted through her abdomen and into Jake’s bladder allowing vital urine drainage.

Complications persisted.

The press release continues: At 32 weeks, Jake inadvertently dislodged one of the shunts, requiring a second surgery to replace it. Two weeks later, a blockage developed, leading to Jake's premature arrival on Sept. 21, 2013, at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest. He spent the next two months in its neonatal intensive care unit. Without means for his bladder to naturally drain, surgeons created a temporary path for his urine to empty.

Jake was 2 when he required peritoneal dialysis. At only 4 years old in 2017, a kidney transplant became a necessity, when one kidney stopped growing. It barely functioned at 11% of normal capacity.

His mother urgently appealed for a kidney donor on social media and elsewhere.

Health hurdles continued, which led to prolonged hospital stays, including treatments aimed at addressing his dangerously low hemoglobin levels. As reported in the press statement, these challenges mounted and his family faced significant financial strain, often forced to make tough decisions like forgoing essential medications and cutting back on meals to accommodate Jake's dietary restrictions.

First transplant failed

Eventually, Jake’s name was added to the United Network for Organ Sharing deceased donor registry. After about six months on the organ transplant waiting list, just ahead of his sixth birthday in September 2019, Jake underwent his initial kidney transplant at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. Complications arose. His kidney soon had to be removed.

While in the hospital, Jake celebrated his sixth birthday from his bed, opening his cards and presents. His nurses organized a birthday party for him.

Jake rallied, rebuilding his strength. On Dec. 7, 2022, he was reactivated on the UNOS donor registry, but more hospitalizations and setbacks occurred. These included infections and an aggressive lesion that required surgery, causing his name to be deactivated on the registry.

The Wright Center's release reports he is back on.

How to help

On April 16, Jake’s name was reactivated on the UNOS national transplant waiting list.

The boy joins more than 104,000 people, including over 2,100 children, in need of a donor, according to Donate Life America. Every eight minutes, another person is added to the national transplant waiting list; 86% need a kidney.

Algerio and her husband, Don Sweeley Jr., created a flyer outlining the donor qualifications for their son: An individual with either A+ or O+ blood type, who is physically fit, in good overall health, with no significant medical issues and has not undergone major abdominal surgery.

To help Jake, visit the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) website at https://tinyurl.com/fkdea2yf or call 1-877-ORGAN50 (674-2650).

Algerio prays for that better match. “For his age, he’s so restricted,” she said in the press release. “He just gets so tired... I have to remind him to try not to get bumped in the belly and get any contusions. We’ve been through that before.”

Her colleagues at The Wright Center are rallying behind Jake's cause, sharing the flyer and his story to help find him a compatible match.

Jake shared in the release the one thing he looks forward to most after receiving a new kidney: “Being with my mom forever.”

For more information about organ donations, visit Donate Life America at donatelife.net.

Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: 10-year-old Jake Algerio of Honesdale in need of kidney transplant