By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – When Angelina Ariail’s second child was born with an extremely rare kidney disease—something it took doctors two months to diagnose—she became an activist in the campaign to speak for little ones like her own.
And listening to her own story of growing up, it is easy to understand why Ariail is passionate about standing up for children.
Ariail grew up in a family situation that was challenging, to say the least, so it makes sense that she now wants to fight to help children much younger than she was.
Aaron Lee Ariail is 12 months old this month, laughing and crying like any baby would. But it was only 10 months ago when he faced a life-threatening situation due to a rare kidney disease, eventually diagnosed as Posterior Urethral Valve (PUV).
The answer to his problems as a baby were solved on a night in an emergency room, where the ER doctor told Ariail, “if you had not brought your baby in here, he would not have made it through the night.”
Ariail is now on a personal campaign to raise awareness about PUV with the first annual Kids with Kidney Disease Softball Tournament, set for Saturday, May 11 in Slidell. (To play in the tournament or support the cause, see separate story in today’s paper.)
Ariail, 26, already had a 3-year-old son when she became pregnant with baby number two, making it through her pregnancy with no unusual signs until near the time she was due to deliver. Aaron Lee was diagnosed at 33 weeks with PUV, and after being born three weeks later, had surgery when he was 5-days-old.
PUV is an obstructive membrane in the urethra, so it appeared the surgical procedure at 5-days-old took care of clearing the blockage for the little boy. However, within a month he again showed signs of something being wrong. Ariail said she was continually told by doctors there was nothing seriously wrong with him, but a month later on a night when he was “inconsolable,” his mother went to the emergency room demanding answers.
That is the night she was told her son might have died if he hadn’t come in. Doctors realized he also had a kidney disease that allowed urine to move from the bladder to the ureter or kidneys, a condition known as Renal Tubular Acidosis.
“For over a month my son had something wrong, but the doctors didn’t know what it was,” she said. “These conditions are rare so I am trying to bring more awareness to others about them.”
When Ariail sought a support group for the particular kidney disease affecting her son, she found none. Now she has started her own group on Facebook and wants others to know about it, so they can understand the condition in case their child has a similar problem.
“Having a child that sick at home is the most intimidating thing I have ever been through, especially when the doctors aren’t telling you what is wrong,” she said, noting her son was on seven different medicines a day. “I was surprised there is no support group around here for this so I have started one. I had to fight for my son’s life, and I don’t want anyone else to go through that.”
Ariail’s passion to help others might stem from her own childhood that was far more difficult than most young people ever experience.
Growing up in Mobile, Ala., her parents separated when she was at a young age and she lived with her mother until the state finally took both her sister and Ariail out of the home and placed them with the state.
“There were a lot of problems my mother faced, just like my dad until he got saved when I was eight years old,” she recalled.
But the change for religion in his life still didn’t provide a steady fatherly influence in the life of Ariail, she said, since her dad decided he wanted to become a missionary to Africa.
“My dad was not any kind of Christian early in my life, and he wasn’t a part of my life at all,” she said. “But when he got saved and turned to God, my sister and I thought he was suddenly going to be around.
“Instead he wanted to go to Africa,” she said. “And that was tough on us because we didn’t understand why he wanted to save all the kids in Africa, but didn’t want to save his own daughters.”
Her older sister married as soon as she was 18 and the couple tried to adopt Ariail so they could all be together again, instead of her living in foster homes.
“The state wouldn’t allow it,” she said. “So I managed through my teenage years, getting into a lot of problems with drugs and drinking.”
The salvation for Ariail turned out to be her step-great grandmother.
“She took me to the Baptist church all the time and she was the most beautiful, spiritual woman I have ever known,” she said. “She was the one who exposed me to a Christian life and helped me finally change my life.”
Ariail was a smart student in school, with a 4.0 average, earning a small scholarship to college that she was not able to take advantage of since she needed more money for room and board. The scholarship only covered tuition so she eft high school, joining the Coast Guard.
“I think I joined the service since I wanted to run away from everything I experienced as a teen,” she said.
In September, 2005 while home in Mobile on leave, she was set up for a blind date and met a man who later became her husband. They dated for eight months and then were married.
“I’m happily married now although my husband has had to teach me what real love is,” she said. “I’m still a distant person and don’t let people in easily.”
Knowing the condition in her son could reoccur, she wants to raise awareness to others with her support group and research.
“That is what this softball tournament is about,” she said. “It’s the first step to bringing awareness to others about this disease. I just want doctors to understand it better too, since some of them didn’t recognize it when they saw my baby.”