With the help of Chartway Credit Union and Make-A-Wish, 6-year-old Joshua Bucheit of Suffolk was able to have an ice cream social and receive a trip with his family to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Buchheit had hydronephrosis when he was around 20 months in utero, resulting in his kidneys shutting down and being in end-stage renal failure.
Joshua’s father, Ryan Buchheit was able to donate his kidney to his son when he was 18 months old, with both healing afterwards. Now, Joshua is swimming, lively and living his best life. Jennifer Buchheit talked about looking at the good times now and how it reminds her and Ryan of where they used to be.
“So sometimes it can actually be really traumatizing because the good things remind you of the terrible things that end up happening, and it’s in a good way because those are the good things that you didn’t process while it was going on,” Jennifer said. “And I think that it’s very healthy and important to admit ‘Oh, he was two days from dying.’ You don’t do that while it’s happening, and so it’s really important that we realize how sick he was, and that again makes us appreciate how healthy he is…”