Nurses are selfless, always giving as much of themselves as they can for their patients. Thanks to one extremely selfless Nurse, 8-year-old Brayden Auten of WI is alive and well and starting a new school year.
One day last April, Brayden, a busy and active child, came home from school very sick. The following evening, he was at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee where doctors discovered an aggressive unknown virus attacking his liver.
According to a Wisconsin News article, within a week, young Brayden was fighting for his life. Ruth Auten, Brayden's mom said "Started talking liver transplant, and we just bawled our eyes out. We didn't think it was going to get that far."
The family posted Brayden's story online and the response was so huge, an operator was added to the unit to handle the volume of phone calls. Thankfully, Cami Loritz, an ICU Nurse in Milwaukee, answered their prayers. She was a perfect match and volunteered to be a living donor.
Brayden’s dad, James Auten said "What she did was completely selfless and she saved his life, plain and simple." Ruth said "We can't thank her enough. She's a true miracle. We consider her one of us, one of our family."
While Brayden was recovering in Milwaukee, the community back home in Wrightstown, WI came together for the family. "They set up fundraisers and everything for tournaments and just, it was really amazing to see the community support and the wrestling team came while we were gone and did our lawn and landscaping and came and saw him. It's been pretty amazing," said Brayden's dad.
The Auten's are so thankful and grateful for the gift of life Cami gave to Brayden. To commemorate what Cami did for Brayden and his family, they organized a family photo shoot for them. You can see their bond in these photos. Cami, you are truly an amazing person!
