Dec. 19 started out like any other work day for 19-year-old Wyatt Hall of Kennedy. He worked at PIC – where he has been employed since graduating from Kipling High School in June 2020 – as usual and felt fine.
He has never had any medical issues in the past so it seemed very unusual when he came home from work that day confused and not acting like himself.
“I took him to Moosomin Hospital that evening,” explains his mother Christie Hall. “After three hours in Moosomin he was sent by ambulance to Regina General Hospital in acute kidney failure. He was started on dialysis immediately.”
“The first four days in the hospital he was mainly unresponsive,” said Christie. “He would just lay there and stare blankly at the wall. The levels in his blood were out of whack. Everything was high but calcium was low, which caused him to have three major seizures which sent him to ICU.”
Christie goes on to explain: “Wyatt spent three days in ICU and then transferred to another floor. He was in hospital for a total of 12 days and was receiving dialysis almost every day. Due to COVID we were very restricted on visitation (understandable but hard as a parent). Only one of us could go in and see him. The same parent only until he went into ICU. Wade (Wyatt’s dad) spent four days sitting in the parking lot during the day while I went in.
“Wyatt went into ICU on Christmas Eve. In ICU they allow two visitors so we were both able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Wyatt. There are Christmas miracles!”
“After tests, ultrasounds, scans, kidney biopsy, two dialysis port procedures and two COVID tests, we found out his kidneys are half the size they should be and only working at one to two per cent,” explains Christie.
Wyatt now travels from Kennedy to Regina and back three days a week for four-hour dialysis treatments. The plan is to put an arteriovenous (AV) fistula (a dialysis port) in his arm which will hopefully, eventually, allow Wyatt to do dialysis at home. He will need a kidney transplant and the family has been told that could be months to years.
Wyatt has handled this whole situation very well, his mother said. He has a lot of very supportive friends and family that have been in touch with him making sure he is doing alright. He has a very positive, relaxed attitude towards all this.
"Yeah it's kind of a bad deal, but it is... what it is,” comments Wyatt.
Growing up Wyatt enjoyed playing hockey for many years and played high school football in Grade 11. He has always enjoyed quadding, Skidooing, hunting and fishing.
“We couldn't be prouder of the young man he has become and how well he is handling everything that has been thrown at him,” comments his parents Christie and Wade.
“We would like to thank everyone for all the support we have received,” comments both Christie and Wade. “The show of support from the communities, friends, family and employers has really been overwhelming. For everyone to be so generous in donating to Wyatt's GoFundMe page and the personal donations we have received have been absolutely amazing. We know it's been a rough year for everyone and to see the support and how generous people are really is unbelievable! It's been a very long few weeks and we have a long road ahead but we are learning as we go.”
