I have three beautiful children. Liam is 6, Aidan is 4 and Makenzie is 20 months.

Within Makenzie's first year of life she had multiple urinary tract and bladder infections which we were unsure of why she kept getting these nasty and painful infections. 

Finally at about a year old when she had one of these infections, we went to see our family doctor. When we arrived we were told our family doctor was away and a doctor specialising in pediatrics was in instead so we saw this new doctor. 

 Immediately she knew something wasn't right and finally sent us for an ultrasound on Makenzie's kidneys and bladder.

At the ultrasound appointment  I remember sitting with Kenz as the technician called in another colleage and then the senior technician. Finally the senior technician explained to me that Makenzie has an abnormal kidney system on the right side. 

After the ultrasound we were sent to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto to see a pediatric urologist and have more tests done on Kenz. Finally at the end of September we had the most important test done.  A kidney function test.

Let me explain what Makenzie's kidneys look like. Normally a person has a right and a left kidney with a ureter coming down into the bladder. There is a little valve in the ureter which controls the flow of urine from the kidneys to the bladder. In Kenzie's system though  her left kidney is normal but her right has another partial kidney attached to the top of the normal portion of the kidney. She also has a ureter coming from the top of the kidney and one coming from the bottom of the kidney into her bladder. The ureter coming from the bottom kidney has a blockage in it which could potentially grow big enough to burst or just become cleared by normal bodily function. Her upper ureter has severe reflux, meaning that the valve isn't mature and urine is going back up into the kidney. This is what is causing her infections, as well as scar tissue in the kidneys.

The function test that they performed watched the kidneys function and when we found out the results of this test we're now a little worried. Her left kidney has 100% function and is great. Her right kidney system however is not as good. The top portion of kidney has a function of less then 15% and the bottom portion has a function of just under 85%. What the doctors are worried about is that the lack of function in the upper part will affect the rest of the kidney and function will go down further in the bottom portion. So basically we get to go back to be monitored some more and if the function does not improve or gets worse then they want to remove the upper part of her right kidney.

Basically I'm asking for prayers. A two year old shouldn't have to go through a major surgery and I am praying daily that this will correct itself. She's already been through so many tests and so many doctors. Surgery is not something I want for her.

Also I would like to ask for prayers for something else. Makenzie's kidneys may be the result of our genetics. My grandmother had both kidneys fail and my mother ended up donating a kidney to her about 10 years ago. Shaun (my husband)'s father died of cancer but when they were doing testing on him discovered that he was born with only one kidney. So they are thinking that it is an inherited problem somewhere in our gene pool. I'm also pregnant again and with having three kids and the potential for surgery for Makenzie, I could really use prayers that this baby is healthy and things go smoothly. When I go for the 18 week ultrasound they are going to be paying extra attention to baby's kidneys and prayers that they are normal and healthy would be wonderful.

 Thank you all for your prayers.