Gig Harbor High School student Casey James has lived with a potentially fatal medical condition his whole life, but he doesn’t let that get him down. He’s too busy enjoying his life — family, friends and snowboarding. As someone who knows first-hand about the importance of receiving assistance from others, he’s also doing his part to help people in need.

James, 18, who was born with kidney failure, is organizing the “Make-A-Strike for Make-A-Wish Foundation,” a March 4 fund-raising event at Narrows Plaza Bowl in Tacoma for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Alaska & Washington. The organization grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, including nearly 300 this year and more than 4,725 since 1986.
The event is also serving as James’ senior high school project.

He is, in his words, “paying if forward” to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which secured a chance for Casey to meet and ride with professional snowboarder Travis Rice during a four-day stay at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyo. last week.

“It was really fun,” James said of his time with the man considered the “Paul Revere” of the big mountain freestyle snowboarding movement.

He said he couldn’t put the experience into words, but he tried anyway, citing the terms “awesome” and “epic.”

“Those don’t quite do it justice,” confessed James, who has 8 years snowboarding experience to his credit.

Kidney failure is a medical condition in which the kidneys fail to adequately filter toxins and waste products from the blood. James’ renal failure was caused by posterior urethral valve syndrome, an abnormality of the urethra that impedes urine outflow. This reverse flow caused James’ kidneys to become engorged with urine and swell, which caused tissue and cell damage.

In May 1997, James — when he was only 3 years old — received a kidney transplant. The donor was his mother, Jo.

Transplanting an adult kidney into the body of a 3-year-old boy necessitated putting the organ in the front of James’ body — instead of the rear where kidneys are typically located — on his right side.

“I was so small and the kidney was so big,” James explained. “They kind of had to shove it in me. I had to grow into the kidney.”

“His kidney will be 15 years old in May,” James’ mom said, noting the typical lifespan of a transplanted kidney is between 10 to 15 years. “His kidney is on the edge.”

A big reason for the deterioration of the kidney is the mind-boggling array of 24 medications James has to take on a daily basis — mostly to keep his body from rejecting the foreign organ.

His kidney is functioning at about 35 percent right now, James said. Should it get to 20 percent or less, he will be put on the organ transplant list at Pediatric Children’s Hospital in Seattle for a new kidney. He is currently on the “on hold” list, he said, because his condition is “not serious right now.”

Though his less-than-optimum kidney function doesn’t seem to get in the way of his living life, he does have to make accommodations for his condition.

“I can’t feel when I have to go to the bathroom,” he said.

His kidney transplant necessitated what is known as a Mitrofanoff procedure, a surgical endeavor which creates a conduit between the skin surface and the urinary bladder. Urine is typically drained several times a day by use of a catheter inserted into the Mitronoff canal. In fact, he was one of the first children to have the procedure.

Sticking a tube into his body every day to drain urine from has become part of his routine.
The medications he takes to keep his body from rejecting the kidney also have the effect of compromising his immune system.

“I don’t really have an immune system,” he said.

“It is hard,” James said of dealing with his kidney-related challenges. “It has its ups and downs.”

Still, it’s been his reality for the past 14 years, and he copes with it.

“It’s the only thing I have known,” he said, “so to me it’s normal.”

And that’s how he tries to live his life — as normally as possible.

Doctors have told him he shouldn’t do a lot of the things he does — like snowboarding — but that obviously doesn’t stop him from living his life.

“My parents didn’t agree,” he laughed. “They don’t want to keep me in a bubble.”

He tries to keep the fact that should his kidney fail, and no organs are available for transplantation, he’ll have to go on dialysis.

“I don’t like to look into that,” he said.

James is grateful for all the support of his family, friends and classmates at Gig Harbor High School.

His mother agrees.

“The community has always supported us,” she said. “It’s been a great little community that’s supported us.”

The “Make-A-Srike for Make-A-Wish Foundation” event starts at 12:30 p.m. A $20 donation gets you free bowling shoes and two games. You can bowl as an individual or as part of a team.

Day of event registration will be available, but please email makeastrike@gmail.com to reserve a spot.

If you’re on Facebook, check out the event page here: http://www.facebook.com/events/176693849102274.

Reporter Brett Davis can be reached at 253-853-9243 or by email at brett.davis@gateline.com. Follow him on Twitter, @gateway_brett.