Saratoga Springs, Utah – A Saratoga Springs father is in desperate need of a transplant after ending up in the emergency room with End Stage Kidney Failure.

On June 12, while at home watching his three young children Deejay Toilolo, 23, noticed some strange symptoms.

“I felt lightheaded, my vision was blurry and I didn’t feel like 100%,” Toilolo said. “I texted my wife and told her what was happening.”

His wife Alexi Toilolo, an ER nurse, rushed home and took his vitals. She immediately noticed his blood pressure was extremely high.

"It can happen to me, it can happen to anyone."

At 10:00, the signs this 23-year-old father wish he would have paid attention to before ending up in the ER with end stage kidney failure @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/XUstWBBRJ1

— Ashley Moser (@AshleyMoser) July 23, 2022

“It was like 220/170 and I told him we need to go to the ER,” she said.

The American Heart Association suggests the optimal normal reading for adults over 20 is lower than 120/80 mmHg.

Doctors told the couple Toilolo’s high blood pressure damaged his kidneys which are now functioning at only 5%. The couple is still trying to come to terms with his diagnosis.

“No symptoms for a whole year until this last month. I would have never seen this coming because he was playing basketball three days before this happened,” Alexi Toilolo said.

Looking back the couple said they wished they would have taken tracking his high blood pressure, seriously after a doctor asked them to do so a year ago. The family was trying to manage Toilolo’s high blood pressure with diet and lifestyle changes.

“I wish we would have tracked his blood pressure, even weekly,” Alexi Toilolo said. “Just tracking it and making sure it was going down would have helped to prevent this.”

Toilolo is hopeful he will get a match for a new kidney soon so that he can recover and be there for his kids.

He hopes by sharing his story others will be encouraged to watch for symptoms and take high blood pressure seriously.

“I am young but this does happen to young people sometimes so I wouldn’t take that gamble,” Toilolo said. “I would go in and get bloodwork done. Do what you have to do to make sure that you are alright.”