Tick Tock: A Teen's Race Against Time for a Life Saving Kidney

Overnight, Sali and Rheylicia McNeal’s life changed forever. Their five-year-old son, Sali, known as Junior, was diagnosed with a rare and incurable kidney disease known as Nephrotic Syndrome.  A condition where the kidneys spill massive amounts of protein into the urine. 

“Devastated,” said Rheylicia. “I just didn't know. A lot of questions, you know, went through my mind. It was bad news. This was something that we had really no cure for.”

Junior was immediately placed on steroids, to no effect. So, immune suppression was used in hopes, that over the years, the disease would go into remission.  

Sali said, “At times me and my wife, we were sad, like, "man, why are, why are we going through this?” 

“Why, why does that have to be our son, Junior?" But we always found a way to pray about it and get the faith that we needed to, to keep our boys and our own morale up during that time.”

There were countless doctor appointments, and hospital stays. Hopeful procedures, and distressing setbacks. Still the McNeal’s held onto their faith in God, surrounded by praying friends and family.   

Rheylicia said, “I'm crying out to the Lord, like, Lord, you said you would heal him. You promise in your word. Even when Sali was about five, he would quote Isaiah 53 verse five, by his stripes you are healed.”

For almost ten years, medication kept Junior relatively stable. He and his brothers’ life seemed normal. Then, when he turned 14, his health took a turn for the worse.  

Dr. Julia Steinke, Medical Director of the Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

Dr. Julia Steinke said, “His condition progressed and then follow up biopsy showed him to have the condition of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. His condition had progressed quite a bit and it was not long after he was started on dialysis.”

Rheylicia said, “I did have thoughts that he would die. Yeah.” 

“My heart really sank because at this point to me, to us it was like life and death. It was one of those things that you're like, "Lord, we have been faithful. We have been trusting you through this and now here we are.” 

By 16, both of Junior’s kidneys had failed despite full time dialysis. Surgery was scheduled to remove them. Now Junior was in a race to find a kidney donor. 

Rheylicia said, “We're told there's a chance he may not get a kidney in time. There's a chance that, you know, he could be faced with the possible death, and especially when he had a surgery, when they removed the kidneys, that was one that was tough for us.” 

Sali said, “And that, that broke me. That broke me because it, his health is, again, is out of my hands. Like, what, what do I do as a father? like, I’m, I’m your protector right, you know? So, it, it, it hurt. It, it hurt really bad.”

After six weeks of evaluations, Junior was placed on the transplant list.  

Miraculously, within days of getting on the list, a kidney was available. 

Rheylicia said, “That was the best day ever. It was an amazing day. We all celebrated. We were just thanking God, and it did not take as long as we thought. He showed up right on time.” 

The transplant surgery was successful and by all accounts Junior’s new kidney was functioning normally. 
Rheylicia said, “I just knew that we were at the finish line. Junior received his new kidney, God answered our prayers and he would be healthy and whole.”   

Then, three days later, it stopped producing urine.

Dr. Steinke said, “He started to spill protein and then we saw that his blood protein levels dropped, and which confirmed that he was in fact having recurrence of his FSGS in the new kidney.”

Sali said, “So, we started praying. We started praying, praying, praying, praying like we, we never been praying before.”

The medical staff at Texas Children’ Hospital continued to fight for Junior. He was back on dialysis and given multiple rounds of plasmapheresis and immunosuppressants.

Dr. Steinke said, “He did respond, thankfully. And then we were able to wean him off of the plasmapheresis and finally he's in a state now where he's doing really well, he's stable.” 

Sali said, “Yeah, it was great to see, man. It just was just, I don't know, we just couldn't be more thankful, and we

knew the power of prayer work, right?” 

As life goes on in the McNeal household, the family treats each day as a gift. While Junior’s story is far from over, the family can attest- God is faithful and prayer made all the difference. 

Rheylicia said, “God has been glorified tremendously in our lives because number one, He gets the glory. He gets the honor and he has shown himself faithful in our lives. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Just worship, worshiping the King of King, the Lord of Lords. Yeah.”