After nearly an entire year of anxious waiting and uncertainty, 14-year-old Jaxon Shaneyfelt of Turlock received quite literally the call of his lifetime.
After being diagnosed last December with juvenile nephronophthisis — fibrosis that impairs kidney function and leads to life-threatening failure of kidney function — Shaneyfelt and his family learned on Nov. 28 that a living kidney donor had finally been found. His transplant surgery is scheduled for today at Stanford Medical Center.
On Monday morning while on their way to Stanford, Shaneyfelt and his parents made a pit stop at the parking lot of the Turlock Christian High and Junior High campus at Monte Vista Chapel for a send-off ceremony, where over 150 students, teachers, administrators and parents were waiting for him.
Despite heavy rain and Shaneyfelt remaining quarantined in his vehicle to prevent catching any illnesses that could postpone the surgery, spirits were high as campus community members cheered and held up signs with messages of encouragement.
“It made me happy to see my friends and teachers standing around us cheering for me,” Shaneyfelt said.
Those in attendance gathered around the family’s car to pray for a safe trip and a successful surgery and recovery for both he and his donor.
“We appreciate everyone at Turlock Christian and the constant support and encouragement they have given us throughout this journey,” said his mother, Micah. “Today’s send-off has given us so much strength knowing we have our family at TC and the community praying for us and rooting for Jaxon.”
Turlock Christian Junior High and High School Principal Nineb Shahbaz helped coordinate the send-off. He described the moment he and his colleagues learned that Shaneyfelt had found a living donor after a year of waiting and explained how Monday’s event came together.
“To be honest, like many people, I had tears in my eyes when I heard the news,” he said. “I've been praying for him. We've been praying as a school. I've reached out to all my family across the states to pray for him. So when we got the news last month, one of the parents had asked me if I could send over a couple of his friends to this house to send them off, and I thought, ‘You know what, I can do better than that.’ And in true TC fashion, we gave him a send-off to put a smile on his face and got as many people as we could to pray for him. To see everybody stand out in the rain for one of our own means the world to me.
“This is what the true spirit of Christmas is. I think we displayed that here for Jackson and his family to see on their way to the hospital. I know that this drive to the hospital will be a little more special to them.”
Recovery time for Shaneyfelt is expected to be four to eight weeks.
