By reaching age 1 with his kidneys still functioning, Shafer Daves has already exceeded his doctors’ expectations, his mother said.
One year ago, Shafer was lying swollen and intubated in the pediatric intensive care unit at T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital. Complications related to an extremely rare disease made doctors unsure whether he could survive infancy. They expected his kidneys to shut down by 3 weeks old, recalled his mother, Jada Daves.
“I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I remember saying I felt like I could never have joy again. I was watching my son die,” said Daves, who lives in East Brainerd with her husband, Kevin, and five children.
But Shafer has defied doctors’ initial predictions. His kidney decline slowed after a few weeks, and early illnesses cleared up. Shafer has grown stronger over the past few months, despite multiple surgeries to treat complications of his disease, and he now has a chance to get a kidney transplant that will hopefully add 20 years to his life.
His family and more than 80 friends celebrated his first year of life this month at Coolidge Park.