New Hope child receives gift of life from her mother
Sadie Davis is a 7-year-old girl from New Hope, and her life has always been anything but ordinary
NEW HOPE, Miss. (WCBI) – Sadie Davis is a seven-year-old girl from New Hope, and her life has always been anything but ordinary.
Her mother, Rebecca Davis, says from the beginning Sadie has battled many health issues leading to kidney failure in her left kidney and only 10% function in her right kidney.
“They immediately flew her to Jackson,” Rebecca said. “We spent two months there. She has eight emergency surgeries during the first month of being there. The doctors gave her 48 hours to live.”
At three weeks old she was on dialysis and she got to come home with regular doctor appointments.
The doctors said to give Sadie the most normal life she could have, because one day, she would need a new kidney.
More complications resulted in multiple doctors telling Rebecca that her child was chronically ill.
“But then fast forward, she was thriving she was happy, then about two years ago she got really bad sick,” Rebecca said. “I took her to Baptist, where they flew her to Memphis, and we’ve been here ever since. ”
Within a month of getting to Memphis, Sadie was placed on the transplant list.
“They started talking to us about being live donors, or willing to do that,” Rebecca said.
With transplants, there is never a guarantee of a match within the family.
A longtime friend, coworker, and former teacher of Sadie’s was a match.
Tracy Smith says she felt very strongly that this was something she wanted to do for Sadie.
“Sadie had an immediate and urgent need,” Smith said. “Being presented with that and knowing that if there was anything I could do to help I wanted to be able to. I felt very strongly that God was telling me, If you can do this, you should do it. I found out like a month later that I was pregnant.”
And the pregnancy became a complication for the procedure.
“There were a lot of factors that we were praying about and we found out Rebecca was going to be a match,” Smith said.
“I knew without a doubt, I was gonna be her girl,” Rebecca said.
In April, they removed Sadie’s remaining kidney.
Now that it’s time for the transplant, her family has hope.
And the community that has been there for the Davis family in the past, is here now.
Her church, her work, Sadie’s school, and surrounding schools stepped in to support her.
“It brings joy to your heart knowing you got people there,” Rebecca said. “We’re praying all of this goes well and my baby accepts this kidney, and by the grace of God, he’s going to bring her through this. And she’s gonna be able to come home and live a happy life.”
Rebecca says this speaks to the importance of organ donation, especially living organ donation.
“It’s knowing you can give a part of yourself to help someone else is just a blessing,” Rebecca said. “I encourage everyone to look into it and be educated about it, just knowing you can save somebody else’s life.”
Schools in the area including New Hope Elementary and Caledonia Elementary are wearing green to show support for Sadie.
Sadie’s family says they are grateful for the Lebonheur Dialysis Unit.
To sign up to be an organ donor, you can visit MSDH.ms.gov
