The nightly dialysis reminds them of his past, as well as his future. Little Micah Doughty is just like other 14-month old boys. He crawls around; looks for toys to stick in his mouth; motors around pushing a walker. But others aren’t like him: within a couple months, he’ll undergo a kidney transplant.
And when he was born, one question dominated his parents’ thoughts: will he live? That was soon answered in the affirmative.
“He’s doing really well,” Doughty said. “It’s discouraging only when we talk to the doctors and he didn’t gain weight that month. Otherwise, he’s been pretty normal.”
Which means, for the time being, life has returned to normal this fall as well. And, on a day like today, that’s a good thing for the Doughtys to have.
Their son was born six weeks premature; aside from the dialysis, he still takes daily medication. He can undergo the transplant after he hits 22 pounds — he now weighs 20.8 pounds.
“It was a lot harder last year,” he said. “Last year there were a lot of questions like, ‘Is he going to be alive? What kind of care does he need? Where are we going to be? Am I going to make the team?
“Last year we didn’t quite know what was going on. Now at least we know. It won’t be any easier with what he’ll go through and my wife will go through in the coming months, but at least we know what the plan is.”
What Doughty doesn’t want to use his son for is perspective. He separates his on-field life with what happens off the field. So when he has a 47-yard pass interference penalty at a crucial point in a loss — as he did last week — it’ll bother him.
Doughty made his first NFL start in place of Sean Taylor, but Pierson Prioleau replaced him in the fourth quarter. Not all was bad for Doughty; after the pass interference, he stuffed Marion Barber for no gain. He also stripped Terrell Owens on one pass.
“But that’s what I’m supposed to do,” said Doughty, a sixth-round draft choice in 2006. “I don’t want a pat on the back.”
But he gets them anyway.
“Last year he was wide-eyed and all over the place,” Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said. “Right now, on special teams, I can’t tell you how many times I highlight him. … You watch him and say, ‘This guy is growing up.’ I’m sure it’s been hard for him to focus the way he has on football.”
