Hello, I'm Kevin and I'm 12 years old. I was born on October 31, 2008 with a malformation of my kidneys. A blood test carried out by the MHH in Michigan (USA) revealed that I have a genetic defect. This genetic defect not only means that my kidneys don't work properly, but I am also severely visually impaired in both eyes.

Playing outside, enjoying leisure activities and many other things were not possible for me.

When I was very small, I was sick a lot and often had to stay at home and couldn't play like my friends in kindergarten. Things didn't get any better at school either. After lessons, I was usually too tired to meet up with a friend in the afternoon. Sometimes I didn't even make it through the school day and had to go home earlier. I couldn't run around outside, enjoy leisure activities and many other things. I also always had really bad nausea, so I was rarely able to eat anything at all before lunch. No matter what I ate, I hardly gained any weight and always grew very little.

I was totally upset and didn't really know what was going on at the time.

My kidney values continued to deteriorate and it soon became clear that the kidney transplant was getting closer and closer and I was put on the Eurotransplant list.

In addition to the list, my parents had themselves examined for a living donation. After many examinations, I soon received the good news that my mom was able to donate a kidney to me. Once everything was sorted, the transplant was scheduled for 07.03.2018. But everything turned out very differently...

I couldn't go to school that week because there was a stupid virus going around in my class. So I did school at home with my school companion. We were on our way out on 22.02.2018 because I had sports and we wanted to go for a walk. At that moment, the phone rang. There was a suitable organ from Eurotransplant and we made our way to Hanover after my dad quickly got home from work. I was totally excited and didn't really know what was going on at that moment.

When we arrived in Hanover, a lot of examinations were carried out and I was prepared for the operation. At 6 p.m. the physicians gave me the "OK" and at 7 p.m. I went into the operating room. After the transplant, the physicians had a huge surprise in store for me. I didn't just get one kidney, but a kidney block, i.e. two kidneys. I was very happy.