Kidney Kamp

A view of some of the lodges at Aspen grove

Here is the low down on our exciting weekend at Kindey Kamp.


Kidney Kamp is held at Aspen Grove up Provo Canyon. It is beautiful up there! We had so much fun. We got up there around 7:30 and checked in and was given the keys to our cabin. The cabin had a loft, a room with a queen bed and another room with two sets of bunk beds so we had plenty of places to sleep. We then headed back down to the main lodge and was entertained by the 1996 World Champion Yo-Yo Man! He was awesome. We also met up with the Calls and the Robisons. After the entertainment we went to bed. Koy slept in the bed with me and Josh because he would not stay in his own bottom bunk (imagine that).

Our Cabin

The kids playing in the loft of the cabin

Looking out to where the cabins are located

The kids heading off to do arts and crafts

The next morning we woke up and headed to the lodge for breakfast. We had eggs and french toast and met up with our friends for the day. Lexi went with Alyssa to arts and crafts and Kayden went to his group for arts and crafts. I went with Krista and Becca to listen to the motivational speaker. We had the honor of listening to Dale Murdoch. He is one of the oldest living transplant recipients to this day. He received his kidney transplant over 40 years ago. He was 15 years old. He was honored at the U.S. Transplant games as one of the 5 oldest living transplant recipients in the U.S. He is a rancher in Blackfoot Idaho. He first started showing signes of kidney disease when he was 5 years old. He was in the hospital in the same room with his mom who was also dying of kidney disease. At this time the only thing they knew to use to treat anything was Penicillan. He later became allergic to penicillan because of the huge amounts he was given. Of course this did not help him at all. His mother passed away from kidney disease and his dad promised his mom that he would do all that he could to save his sons life. He embarked on a journey that was amazing. He went through shock therapy for a full year, he soaked in mineral baths, he sat in teepees drinking bitter herbs while the others smoked around him. He went through every possible thing his father could think of to try and save his life. When he was 14 years old he was 6 feet tall and weighed 79 lbs and was literally dying from kidney disease. He said not only was his body sick, but his mind was sick as well.

Dale Murdock speaking about his transplant experience

One day his Aunt called up his father and told of these experimental kidney transplants that were being done to help people with kidney disease. His father and grandfather loaded up the truck and headed to Colorado to meet Dr. Thomas Starzl in hope that this experiment would save his life. He remembers being bundled up in a lot of blankets and still being freezing cold. During their drive he was drifting in and out of consciousness and he remembers his grandfather shaking him and telling him to stay awake. Finally he remembers seeing a light and seeing his mother and her telling him that he needed to stay here because it wasn't his time to leave yet. After that his grandfather never shook him awake it was as if his grandfather knew that he was staying.

They arrived in Colorado and he was hooked up to a machine that looked like a washing machine. He was hooked up to this machine for 10 hours and it only filtered and cleaned half of his blood but he said he felt so much better and he felt like he would actually live. He was suppose to receive a kidney from a baboon, but the other two people who had received kidneys from a baboon came down with a virus so they put his transplant on hold. Later Dr. Starzl approched his father and asked if there was an Uncle that may be interested in donated a kidney to him. When the doctor was asked why an Uncle because he said they had never taken a kidney from an uncle and so he wanted to try it. Dr. Starzl is considered to be the father of kidney transplants.


Dale still has that original kidney from his Uncle in him today. He has no idea why his transplant was so successful. While he was in the hospital recovering for 9 months he watched 69 people die but he was still alive. He said that at the time they would only give them about 8 oz of water for the whole day but he craved water and kept wanting more. Finally the doctor decided that if he was craving water so much what would happen if they gave them more water. Once that was done their kidneys started working much better and things began to improve. They rarely had visitors because it would take them so long to decontaminate and it was such a long process that people didn't really come and visit them. He was there for about a month and a half with a little 4 year old girl. He spent every waking hour with this little girls. He read her books, he played with her, he was everything to this little girl and she was everything to him. She started getting sick and one night he was rocking her and she told him she loved him and then she died in his arms. He said that he got really bitter after that. He was mad at the doctors, the nurses, and God because he was still alive and all of his friends were gone.

He has gone on to live a great life. This man is amazing and the spirit was so strong. This man is amazing! He has gone through so much so that my little boy didn't have to.

Lexi playing shuffle board

The rest of the day was filled with fun and games and a much needed nap. We played miniature golf, played at the playground, played shuffle board and played some basketball. Josh made the comment that the area reminded him of the resort in the movie Dirty Dancing. He said the only thing that it needed and that they probably did not have was dancing. I told him that they had dancing scheduled for Saturday night and he about died from laughing so hard. I told that to Krista and she thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Part of the playground

Kayden and his new friend Tyler. Jared is in the front and he received a transplant not too long ago.

Miniature golf

Koy eating yummy strawberry shortcake

Lexi playing Miniature golf

They have a swimming pool there complete with slides, but it was too cold to go swimming. They also have a miniature replica of a western town with a barber shop, a bank, a school and a country store. The kids had a lot of fun. They also had a pond that you could fish at, but it didn't have any fish in it. The only thing that anyone caught out of it was Koy. Koy fell into the pond and thanks to Jeff, Jared's dad, he was pulled out safely. He soaked and was freezing but he was safe and after all of his crying and shivering he slept very soundly wrapped up in a blanket that afternoon.


Saturday on our way to the dancing there was telescope set up in a common area outside facing the back side of Mt. Timpanogos. Someone had spotted Mountain Goats and we were able to see them through the telescope. There were about three of them and they were really high up on the side of the mountain. It was really cool.

Lexi, Kayden, Koy and Dale Murdock Dancing

We had the best time and it was great to be surrounded by families who are going through similar trials like we are. As me, Becca and Krista were sitting there trying to get our little kidney guys to eat we decided that we would all take a trip to Hershey Pennsylvania where there is an eating clinic that we have been told of that will teach our kids to eat in a month's time. There was another little kidney patient that attended this clinic and after relying on his g-tube for 8 years, after two weeks was eating all the calories that he needed and he was even taking his pills by mouth and no longer needed his g-tube. We want our little guys to be able to eat so badly that we would go to any extent to help them thrive. The whole idea behind this eating clinic is that food is to eat and not to play with. Most of the specialists here go by the guideline that food is to play with and it that eating should be a fun, happy experience and to help kids understand that food is not scary. When that is correct but the main reason that we have food is to help us stay alive and that is should be eaten and not played with. Who knows, maybe a trip to Hershey Pennsylvania will be in our future sometime.

Kayden and Brick, Brick recently went through a scare of rejection after having his Kidney for a year. Keep Brick and his family in your prayers since this has pushed Brick a step backwards in wanting to eat. His mom told me about how Brick has had to stay in the house because some of his counts in his blood work has come back really high so Brick was not allowed to go anywhere. The family would get ready for church and Brick was not able to go because of his kidney and Brick told his mom that he didn't want his kidney anymore and to take it out because he wanted to go to church.

Western Town...Aspen Gulch