A North Carolina family is appealing for help after their adopted 14-year-old daughter was denied a kidney transplant by Duke University Hospital because she was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Yulia Hicks was hosted by Lee and Chrissy Hicks in January 2021 from Ukraine. They knew she had a rare genetic kidney disease, Loken senior syndrome, which would mean she would eventually need a transplant.
On Nov. 11, however, they were told she was ineligible for Duke’s waitlist because she was not vaccinated against COVID.
“There’s no sympathy from any of them,” Chrissy Hicks said.
“It’s just strong weaponry: give him the vaccine and you’ll have the transplant.”
She said they had contacted a lawyer, but ‘cannot put her life on the line with litigation’ – and were looking for an alternative medical centre.
The Hicks said Yulia had been infected before, but the hospital said that wasn’t enough, and CDC guidelines require vaccinations for transplant patients.
‘They said the CDC recommendation was updated at the end of October, and they had to follow the recommendation, and if she didn’t get the vaccine, she wouldn’t get a transplant at Duke,’ Chrissy Hicks said. , speaking to Tucker Carlson Friday night.
Chrissy Hicks, mother of Yulia, 14, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show on Friday night asking for help
“We’ve been dealing with these doctors at Duke for at least two years, because our dialysis also goes through Duke,” she explained.
“We do it at home for Yulia.
“But the two doctors who turned us down because of the COVID vaccine, we saw them for an eight-hour checkup, and that’s when they told us it was going to be needed.
“Then we kind of pushed back a bit.
“They put her before the committee on November 10.
“She was rejected just because of the vaccine, that’s when we decided to do a conference call and get real evidence that they were telling us.”
Carlson called the hospital’s decision “grossly unreasonable and viciously cruel.”
Chrissy Hicks recorded the phone call, in which the hospital explained why Yulia was being denied the transplant.
“I can’t force you to do anything,” said one woman. ‘I can recommend these things.
“But if you don’t follow our recommendations, Yulia cannot be a candidate for a transplant here.
“Based on number five, which is persistent non-adherence to medical dialysis treatment or medical recommendations, and also based on number 10 – which is medical risk factors that make surgery unsafe.
“And not being vaccinated against the CDC-recommended vaccinations, based on your age, is one of them.”
Yulia Hicks, left, is a 14-year-old orphan rescued from Ukraine. She Was Denied A Vital Kidney Transplant Because Her Parents Won’t Vaccinate Her
Yulia Hicks was adopted in January 2021 by Lee and Chrissy Hicks, joining their large family
When the Hicks, devout Roman Catholics who have 11 children – including three adopted children – argued that Yulia had already had COVID and was therefore protected, hospital staff pushed back.
“The virus kept mutating,” a man told them.
“So natural immunity is not as good as if you had natural immunity plus vaccination.”
Chrissy Hicks told Carlson the hospital staff were unfriendly and didn’t even express their condolences for not being able to help Yulia.
When the Hicks, devout Roman Catholics who have 11 children — including three adopted children — argued that Yulia had already had COVID and was therefore protected, hospital staff pushed back.
The mother-of-11 said she hoped another medical center would agree to help Yulia
Carlson said it was “so evil, it’s hard to digest”.
The North Carolina mother said she has retained an attorney, but in the meantime is “hoping that a medical center will come forward and let us know they will do the transplant without a vaccine.”
“We have retained the services of a lawyer. Mike Yoder is his name,” she said.
“We cannot put his life on the line with litigation.
“So we hope your show gives us the exposure that a medical center will show up and let us know that they will do the transplant without a vaccine.
“We would like them to contact us.
“We have created a website, yuliagrace.com, contact us there, if there is a medical center that will help us.
“We also created – we have 11 children in our family. We are not financially able to go out of state to do this. Go to giftendgo.com.
“We have already received a wave of aid. We are very grateful to the people who have come forward,” she said.
“It boils down to: it’s bigger than Yulia, there are so many families in Yulia’s situation, and we want to help other families.
“There was a line drawn in the sand.
“If we don’t stand up for our medical freedoms now, we won’t be able to get up soon.”
Yulia’s case is not isolated.
Earlier this year, a 31-year-old Boston man, DJ Ferguson, was denied a heart transplant because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID.
Several weeks later, a North Carolina man, Chad Carswell, 38, said he would rather die than be forced to receive the COVID vaccine to receive the kidney transplant he needed.
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, the hospital where Carswell hoped to receive his transplant, declined to comment on his case, but a spokeswoman said the hospital’s vaccination policy was intended to protect transplant patients, who are at risk high of serious illness due to COVID.
Last year, hospitals at the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Colorado refused to perform organ transplants for recipients who had not been vaccinated.
Individual centers set their own policies, but there are some common practices. Hospitals typically require transplant candidates to abstain from smoking, and transplant recipients typically must go through psychosocial assessments.
They must often be vaccinated against hepatitis B, commit to annual flu shots and demonstrate immunity against measles.
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