06/02/2026
"When Lexi was around 6 weeks old, she was diagnosed with congenital nephrotic syndrome (CNS). She was born with kidneys that just didn't function like they should, and I was told that at some point, she would need a transplant. At a little over 2 years old, both of her kidneys were removed, and she began dialysis to keep her as healthy as possible until a match could be found. During that time, I had posted everywhere I could to find a living donor by using social media, a newspaper article and local news in the Omaha area. She was on dialysis for 11 months, when we got the call that they had found a match from a deceased donor. Her name was Ryan Post.
Within a few days after Lexi's transplant, I wrote a letter to Ryan's family and gave it to the team to pass on to them. Approximately a month and a half or so later I got a message from Ryan's mom, Colleen, sharing who she was, and that she had gotten the letter and wanted to meet us. We communicated over social media for the next few months, eventually meeting at Live On Nebraska's annual walk/run in April 2018. It was extremely emotional to not just meet Ryan's family, but to see how much they appreciated meeting Lexi and seeing how Ryan is living on through her.
Since then, we have been in contact with Colleen regularly. We went to a birthday party they held for Ryan that same year for what would have been her 14th birthday and met more family and friends. In October 2018, we moved from Nebraska to Washington and spent the next 5 ½ years out there. In July 2019, Colleen and her kids drove out to Washington to celebrate Lexi's 5th birthday with her, which meant so much to us. In 2024, we moved back to Nebraska and are still in contact with Colleen. Not only has she gotten to see Lexi grow up, but I have also been able to learn more about Ryan and show my daughter who saved her. The ability to not only know about Ryan, but to have a friendship with her mom and watch her siblings go through life, is amazing. Some people never get to find our who their donor was, so I'm incredibly lucky that Colleen wanted to meet Ryan's recipients.
Since Lexi's transplant, she has grown and thrived so much. She has been involved in cheer and basketball. She's now moved on to wanting to play volleyball and is totally immersed in that. She attends school and will be going into 7th grade next year, which means moving on to middle school. She has to take certain medications for the rest of her life that suppress her immune system, and she does get sick more often than other kids might, but thankfully nothing that has gotten her hospitalized. She does not have to go through nearly as much as she did pre-transplant. Back then, it seemed like her having a normal life was so far away but in the last almost nine years, she's come so far. She is probably one of the most resilient kids I know. When people hear her story, they can't believe how much she went through. The thing I am most grateful for about her transplant is that she's still here with me.
Organ donation saves lives and Ryan alone saved not only five individual lives, but countless others through tissue donation. She saved their families, too." - Kelly Fuerhoff, Lexi's mom 💙
