A kidney for Christmas: Jacksonville toddler wishing for life saving transplant this holiday season

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Many kids wish for toys or a puppy for Christmas, but for one Jacksonville toddler, the biggest Christmas gift of all would be a brand-new kidney.

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Two-year-old Hudson Poff suffers from hemolytic uremic syndrome, a rare condition that attacks the red blood cells in the kidneys. As a result, every night since Hudson was 15 months old, he’s had to be hooked up to a dialysis machine.

“There’s some nights we want to go look at Christmas lights, and he’s unfortunately not able to go and do something like that because he has a machine that he has to get hooked up to,” explained his mom, Kandi Poff.

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In addition to dialysis, “Huddy” wears a feeding tube that connects to his tummy, which often forces him to miss out on irreplaceable childhood memories.

“We spend a lot of time in the river, the springs, the beach, the swimming pools, things like that. Unfortunately, that’s not something he can partake in,” explained Mrs. Poff.

“He saw the moon, and you know, he’s never seen the moon and stars,” Hudson’s dad, Steven Poff, added emotionally. “When you put it in perspective that he can’t do things that normal kids can do, it’s tough. It’s tough.”

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Now, this holiday season, the biggest gift for Hudson hasn’t been anything underneath the tree, but the doctors and nurses at Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital, who spend countless hours trying to give Hudson a second chance at a normal childhood.

“Mrs. Donna did our training, and then Navondria became just as important to us. They are absolutely amazing,” said Mrs. Poff. “Anytime we have a question, they’re immediate with a response.”

Donna Kling and Navondria Lawson are just 2 of many on the staff who have taken care of Hudson from start to finish. Kling told Action News Jax that having the chance to care for a boy as happy and resilient as Hudson is a gift to the staff of Wolfson’s in and of itself.

“One day he had been here. I came around the corner, and his mom said, ‘There’s Miss Donna.’ And he reaches up to me and says, ‘Hug!’ And I mean, it just, it melts your heart,” said Kling with a warm smile.

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Now, Hudson has officially been approved by a committee to receive his new kidney as soon as Dec. 22, just in time for a Christmas miracle.

“How many more days he gets to stay up! If he wants to be up at 7 or 8 o’clock at night and look at the moon and stars,” said Mrs. Poff with tear-filled eyes. “He can play in the dirt and make mud pies with his brother. He’ll be able to do that.”

Hudson’s dad said he hopes this marks a brand new chapter in Hudson’s life, making this grueling journey a once-distant memory.

“Hopefully, he’ll never remember any of this. He’ll just have a cool scar,” he said.

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