Colorado
Colorado girl gets new liver thanks to ‘complete stranger’ on Facebook
AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — A 4-year-old lady resides a full, wholesome life due to her new liver that got here from a whole stranger.
Jeremy and Emily Knakmuhs are sharing their household’s story in honor of Donate Life Month, which is in April. They are saying after their twins have been born in 2018, they observed nearly instantly one thing was unsuitable with the well being of their daughter Kennedie.
“With twins, it’s very straightforward to see how they’re rising. He was. She wasn’t,” Jeremy Knakmuhs stated.
In line with the couple, a pediatrician initially recognized Kennedie with acid reflux disease issues and despatched her residence with medicines and a feeding tube. By the point she was 6 months previous, nonetheless, they observed her well being was quickly declining.
After an emergency journey to Youngsters’s Hospital Colorado, Kennedie was recognized with a uncommon genetic illness that causes liver failure known as progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis, or PFIC.
“It’s the place the liver can’t excrete bile usually and so youngsters get extreme itching, like they’ll get up with their bedsheets lined in blood as a result of they’re at all times itching,” Dr. Megan Adams, a transplant surgeon at Youngsters’s Hospital Colorado, stated.
In line with Adams, Kennedie was affected by poor high quality of life and wanted a liver transplant. Nonetheless, she was not dying and due to this fact not sick sufficient to be eligible for a deceased donor liver.
“By nature of how the record works, she would have needed to get actually sick earlier than she can be provided a liver,” Adams stated.
‘Full stranger’ presents liver donation
The Knakmuhs dad and mom determined to seek for a residing donor as an alternative.
“She put out a submit on Fb principally in search of a liver, and we had responses from everywhere in the nation,” Jeremy Knakmuhs stated.
A lady from Texas, who the couple described as “a whole stranger,” responded that she wished to donate a bit of her liver if she was a match for Kennedie.
“She stated that she thought that the rationale that she and her husband hadn’t had youngsters but is as a result of she was meant to assist Kennedie first,” Emily Knakmuhs stated.
The pair was a match, and the liver transplant was accomplished in April 2019.
“Having a dwell donor donate a bit of her liver to Kennedie to permit her to get transplanted earlier than she bought that sick is superb,” Adams stated.
At this time, Kennedie is a cheerful and wholesome 4-year-old.
“And that’s been the very best a part of all that is to really watch her have the ability to be a child,” Jeremy Knakmuhs stated.
Dwelling organ donations on the rise
They’re now hoping Kennedie’s story evokes others to contemplate organ donation to assist save extra lives.
“It doesn’t need to be a lack of life to donate. You generally is a residing donor and it can save you a life that manner too. And it’s a beautiful factor,” Jeremy Knakmuhs stated.
“I hope individuals can see that this brief period of time of discomfort that you could be and can expertise being a donor results in a complete new life for any person like Kennedie,” Emily Knakmuhs stated.
In line with Dr. Adams, sick youngsters can spend six months to a 12 months on the ready record for an organ from a deceased donor. Nonetheless, she stated residing donation is turning into extra frequent.
“In 2021, we did 20 liver transplants which was probably the most we’ve ever carried out within the historical past of this program, and 60% of these have been from residing donors,” Adams stated.
Donors don’t have to know the affected person or have a recipient in thoughts when deciding to change into a donor. As soon as registered within the database, altruistic donors will likely be contacted if and after they match with somebody in want. =
Youngsters’s Hospital Colorado companions with UCHealth College of Colorado Hospital to carry out transplant surgical procedures. If you need do be evaluated as a possible residing kidney or liver donor you possibly can fill out a well being evaluation by UCHealth.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – This weekend was Thankfest, an event started by Vaughn Littrell, to give back to families in need. This year 250 families got all the ingredients they needed for Thanksgiving and more.
The families were chosen ahead of time through the CPCD Head Start Program. They help serve our community’s most vulnerable children and families.
The giveaway was a chance for families to come down and do some shopping for free. It was more than just getting food, families also received all the kitchen tools they would need to cook too.
It wasn’t just food either. Clothes and shoes were also available for those who needed them.
“Some of our families are in really, really bad situations. They need they need help. You know, and it’s this is a this is a tangible way that we can do something. We can’t do everything, but you can do something. We’re excited to be able to bless these families,” Vaughn Littrell told KRDO13.
Vaughn says he started the giveaway with just a few families. He says he knows what it is like to struggle, and wants the giveaway to keep growing so he can help more people.
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Interstate 70 closed near Vail and Silverthorne on Sunday for “safety concerns” as snow battered the Colorado mountains, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The eastbound interstate was closed between Exit 180 for East Vail and Exit 190 for Vail Pass Summit, about 1 mile west of Copper Mountain, as of 6 p.m. Sunday, CDOT officials said.
CDOT cameras in the area of the closure showed snow-covered roads and white-out conditions.
Westbound I-70 was also closed at 6 p.m. Sunday between Exit 216 for U.S. 6 near Loveland Pass and Exit 205 for Colorado 9 near Silverthorne, according to CDOT.
Multiple Waze users reported “weather hazards” in both closed sections of I-70.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Colorado
Shedeur Sanders shoves referee, ‘lucky’ to avoid ejection as frustrations boil over in Colorado loss
There was certainly a scenario Saturday night where Colorado would’ve needed to navigate the final 20 minutes of its upset loss to Kansas without star quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders, the son of Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders and a projected top pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, shoved referee Kevin Mar after taking a sack on third down with Colorado trailing by nine in the third quarter, and he was “lucky” that didn’t result in an ejection, Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira said on the broadcast.
“There’s no question that he does,” Pereira said when asked about Sanders shoving Mar. “Look, I get why he’s upset because people are almost climbing over him after he was down, but, you know, the officials can use their hands all they want to try to keep order. But you cannot come back as a player and push an official.
“In the chaos, the officials don’t see it, but he’s lucky that he wasn’t ejected from the game.”
After the sack, Sanders approached Mar from behind — who was surrounded by a cluster of players — and shoved the longtime official with his right arm.
By that point, three other referees had moved closer to the scuffle and attempted to separate the players and Sanders while protecting Mar.
Sanders, who finished 23 of 29 for 266 yards and three touchdowns during No. 16 Colorado’s 37-21 loss, wasn’t penalized on the play, but his frustrations had started to boil over.
The game featured plenty of physical hits, with Colorado’s College Football Playoff hopes at stake and Kansas attempting to claw its way toward becoming bowl eligible.
At one point in the first half, defensive end Dean Miller lowered his head and flung himself toward Sanders’ knees while he attempted a pass.
“I mean, I just don’t know how that’s legal overall,” Sanders told reporters after the game when asked about Miller’s hit. “I ain’t understand that, but, you know, it is what it is. There was a couple plays like that.”
The Buffaloes trailed 17-0 at one point but managed to trim its deficit to two points early in the third quarter, when Travis Hunter — also projected as a top pick in the upcoming NFL draft — and Sanders connected on a touchdown pass.
But Devin Neal accounted for the final two touchdowns, providing the Jayhawks with some cushion and ensuring Colorado was on its way to ending the night in a four-way tie atop the Big 12 standings.
Deion said after the game that Colorado had become “intoxicated with the success.”
“We started smelling ourselves a little bit,” Deion said, according to ESPN. “… We got intoxicated with the multitude of articles and the assumption that we’re this and the assumption that we’re that. And we did not play CU football. Therefore, we got our butts kicked. It is what it is.”
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