One mile challenge

Greetings Brothers and Sisters

Last you heard in early May Walker was on a fast track to transplant, since then he has been working hard at qualifying to get one. The fast track we thought he would be on turned into a ‘hey, not so fast mister’. The AdventHealth transplant doctors are essentially undecided as to whether they will even do the surgery at this point. They even went as far as asking his permission to send his records to Shands in Gainesville and to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for them to review in case it does not proceed here in Orlando. In speaking with an ex-head of transplant surgery from another hospital, I have learned that it is not so easy to qualify to get a transplant. The biggest factor being the probability of success of not only the operation but also the recovery through months, years of rehab.

The truth is that Walkers case is complicated and his complications like his gastronomic system, his risk of infection, the challenge of removing his existing bad lung all make his case more difficult and therefore more risky to a transplant team in terms of their success. And in the world of transplant surgeries, it’s all about outcomes, successful outcomes. And each transplant team has different risk profiles for different types of surgeries that they perform. At AdventHealth, they are very skilled and very successful at heart and liver transplants, one of the best in the country. Shands performs up to 100 lung transplants a year whereas Advent does around 30 or so. So a complicated lung transplant is definitely in their purview but it has a higher risk profile for them, so this is a big decision for them as well.

Also, they informed Walker in first week of August that he had to start walking a mile each time during his pulmonary rehab sessions in order to qualify for the surgery, period, and this was not negotiable. While a mile may not be much to a healthy person it is to Walker who had been tapping out around half a mile on the treadmill during his three rehab sessions per week. This new challenge became that much more difficult when Walker got a stress fracture in his right ankle in late July. Between extreme muscle atrophy, a stress fracture, and lack of proper oxygen intake, Walker was having a very hard time reaching the mile mark. What would be an automatic task for you and me became a mountain to climb through teeth chattering pain and muscle spasm sore recoveries. He did not have a choice, if he wanted this transplant he was going to have to work harder than ever before.

As his parents, watching him fight through the pain, struggling to achieve this mile and knowing the extreme reality of the purpose of this challenge has been very tough on us, tough on all of his family. All of us having to constantly fight back against our own doubts and fears for him, pressing on through our faith that God has his hand on Walker, praying daily for his success in reaching this, his life’s most critical goal to date. Thinking is this fair and talking openly of the necessity of this one mile challenge as the reason for not getting Walker on the transplant list, seeing him continue to decline in health each month while waiting wondering how much longer can this go on. It has felt like we were back in the ICU, just like it was two years ago fighting, pushing him to get moving in a body that resist his every effort in order to walk so that he could live.

On Wednesday the 11th, Walker texted us that he made it .95 of a mile and then on Thursday the 12th we heard that he made the one mile challenge. If ever there was anything I have heard that could be called ‘music to my ears’ , this was it. I can’t even explain how happy we were to hear this great news and we knew once he reached it one time, just as he has in the past, he would keep improving. Just like two years ago, it was like he hit rock bottom, when all odds are against you, and bounced off that hard rocky bottom never to return. Since then, he has hit a mile in each rehab session and been texting us how his time keeps improving. Thanks be to God! Answered prayer for the many people praying for Walker. 

Now, yesterday, he and Candy met with the transplant doctors and the were very pleased with his achievements and they said there are about 5 more varieties of pulmonary test and heart test he needs to have this week and he may be listed shortly after. So, it looks like, at least today it does, that the AdventHealth transplant team will list Walker and hopefully in the next month or two be performing a double lung and kidney transplant to save and transform Walkers life. So we just came off a breathless, screaming, white knuckle turn on this roller coaster called ‘Walker’s Life’ and have hit the ramp, hearing and feeling the load clank as the coaster car locks in and jerks us upward for the ride up the last highest elevation in preparation for the final thrilling run to come. 

To all of you that have prayed and do pray for Walker and his family, please keep at it, it’s working. God hears us and continues to carry him towards this life saving surgery. Let’s be bold in our claims for Walkers success calling on the mighty, all powerful hand of Christ to put a hedge of protection around him keeping all viruses away from his body and giving him the strength to fight on.

Thank you all for staying with us on this long and winding road, Love the McKnights.