For most 15-year-old boys, life revolves around football matches, preparing for CXC exams, and keeping up with the fast-paced rhythm of school at Herbert Morrison Technical High School. For Jesse Thompson, however, the last three years have followed a very different routine – the steady, clinical hum of a dialysis machine at Cornwall Regional Hospital.
Jesse was born with only one functioning kidney, though no one knew for more than a decade. His other kidney was severely underdeveloped, no larger than a pea, while his body quietly coped with the demands of childhood and adolescence. That changed in 2023 when, at just 14 years old, his only working kidney began to fail. Suddenly, his body struggled to regulate fluids, and his family faced the frightening uncertainty of what lay ahead.
A glimpse of hope arrived in late 2025 when Jesse was scheduled to undergo a life-saving kidney transplant in October. But nature intervened. Hurricane Melissa swept across the island, forcing doctors to postpone the surgery. For three long months, Jesse and his family –his parents Carson and Natida Thompson, and his sisters Jadah and Janai – lived in anxious anticipation, waiting for conditions to stabilize and for the medical team to resume the critical procedure.
“Miss Melissa came to visit, and she had been planning it for a while. While she was sitting offshore doing her thing, we were trying to make our plans,” Carson Thompson shared. “We kept making these early morning trips from Westmoreland to UHWI for blood tests and scans, just trying to reach the finish line—and then everything stopped.”
The hurricane did more than delay Jesse’s surgery. It also struck at the heart of the family’s stability, severely damaging their home. As they waited for a new surgery date, they were also forced to confront the loss of their physical shelter and the uncertainty of rebuilding.
Mr. Thompson said the family found comfort in the consistent support of the CHASE Fund team during this time.
“They called to check on Jesse, to check on Natida, and to ask how I was doing. They asked how we managed during the storm, about the house, how we were going to rebuild, and where we were staying now. We can’t describe the level of support,” he said.
On January 8, 2026, the long wait finally ended. In a powerful act of love and sacrifice, Jesse’s mother entered the operating theatre to donate one of her kidneys to her son.
The surgery was a race against time. Jesse’s treatment had been complicated by his small, fragile veins, which often collapsed under the strain of repeated procedures. By the time of the transplant, he had undergone nearly ten catheter placements as doctors struggled to maintain access for dialysis.
“Normally when you place a catheter in one area, especially with veins like his, they collapse and you may never be able to use that site again,” Mrs. Thompson explained. “They have placed catheters everywhere they could. If this one had failed, we honestly don’t know how he would have continued. This transplant was the last door open for him.”
The transplant was successfully performed by local surgeons at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) in partnership with Transplant Links Community (TLC), a British charity that promotes life-saving transplant procedures and provides training to specialists worldwide. For several years, the CHASE Fund has supported this effort by providing financial assistance for the transfer of skills under the National Kidney Transplant Programme, which brings together specialists from Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH), the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), and the Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC).
Jesse was discharged on January 28, 2026, and is recovering well. However, the family now faces significant medical expenses, including hospital fees and the lifelong medication Jesse must take to prevent rejection of his new kidney. To help ease this burden, the CHASE Fund approved a $1.5 million grant to support the family as they continue their journey toward recovery and rebuilding their lives.
Mr. Thompson shared a final message of encouragement for others facing similar challenges.
“If you or a family member is diagnosed with kidney disease, it’s not a death sentence. We are eternally grateful to CHASE. It is God who decides how we live… and until that day comes, we hold on to hope.”
Watch the full interview: https://youtu.be/9itTrSrFlm0?si=lRvSeZmn4GJRCdEz
