Young Ferris Backmeyer again waiting for new kidney, going through hemodialysis in Vancouver

KAMLOOPS — “A nightmare? Yeah. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to watch their child suffer.”

Lindsey and Pat Backmeyer have watched their six-year-old daughter Ferris suffer with kidney disease for five years. While there have been happy times and moments of hope, Ferris’ situation is only getting worse and the need for a transplant more dire.

“She is palliative in that if she doesn’t get a kidney transplant, she won’t live a long life,” noted Ferris’ mom Lindsey. “I definitely live her life as if today could be her last day. We try to make every day good for her, good for her sisters.”

The family is currently living in Vancouver at Ronald McDonald House. In February, Ferris was admitted at Royal Inland Hospital with multiple infections. Dialysis simply wasn’t working. She had to be switched to hemodialysis — where blood is pumped out of the body and cleaned through an artificial kidney machine — prompting the move down to B.C. Children’s Hospital.

“The only centre in B.C. for children to get hemodialysis is at B.C. Children’s and she’s on four or five days a week, so there’s no opportunity to take her home,” noted Lindsey.

The family has been at Ronald McDonald House since March 11 when they started Ferris on hemodialysis. At that time, they were looking ahead to a transplant date on April 25. However, it was ultimately cancelled.

“The week before we were leaving, on the Wednesday (April 19), we got a phone call saying there’s a break in the chain, which we don’t get a lot of details about, but it essentially means that somebody isn’t transplantable or maybe the match isn’t good anymore,” noted Lindsey. “That last cancellation rocked us. She needs this so bad. It’s been a really rough go for her.”

However, there are moments when the family sees the Ferris they know. Despite being sick, in constant pain and mostly bed-ridden, she wants to go everywhere with them.

“She would just be miserable if we just left her in the room all the time, so we bought her a wagon,” said Lindsey. “We’ve basically made a bed on wheels and we just pull her around everywhere and she gets to be a part of things.”

The good news is the match is still good and there’s another transplant date, June 29 in Toronto. The family is excited, but also apprehensive, knowing it could be cancelled again any time.

“I’m trying to hold onto hope that the end of June is her opportunity, but until then my focus right now is definitely on her and her health and her experience because I know it can all fall apart in one phone call. It doesn’t take much. It’s actually more our experience to be like, ‘Oh, this is cancelled. This isn’t happening. That’s what we’re used to.’”

While they wait, the Backmeyers will remain in Vancouver between Ronald McDonald House and B.C. Children’s Hospital, wondering what the future holds and wondering if they’ll ever make it back to Kamloops again.

Doctors have said they cannot return to Kamloops until she has a transplant.

Both Lindsey and Pat Backmeyer are currently off work. If you’re interested in helping out the Backmeyer family, a GoFundMe page is still active.

In addition, please consider becoming an organ donor. To sign up, you can visit BC Transplant.