Medical setback for 'Baby' AJ
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - The baby who garnered national attention when he needed a kidney transplant is now in need of another lifesaving surgery.
AJ Burgess is now 3 years old and walking and talking well. His mom said his body has accepted the anonymous kidney that was donated last November, but it is now his bladder that is failing.
“He looks great, but he really isn’t,” Carmelita Burgess confided in FOX 5 News. “HIs bladder isn’t working at all. When he first got his kidney, it had never been used.”
One would never know the energetic 3-year-old boy had a care in the world, but the 12 medicines he takes daily reveal his long road to recovery.
“The doctors say he has to wait until he gets 6 years old for the reconstructive bladder surgery because he just can’t go under the knife again so quickly,” Carmelia said.
AJ continues to make progress, he has started homeschool, is learning to eat solid foods and is learning how to walk on his own.
The mother of four has written a book entitled “Born Different” that chronicles AJ’s struggles and is looking for a publisher now.
She said she is working on a longer book that will document the entire struggle from pain to purpose.
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