Fort Madison toddler was hospitalized the first 946 days of his life. Then a kidney transplant opened his world. – Burlington Hawk Eye

'Aidan Avocado' has a new 'pit.'

Feb. 5 was a day of firsts for Aidan Moles.

The 2-year-old had spent all of his 946 days of existence that's two birthdays, three Thanksgivings and three Christmases within the groundsof the University of Iowa's Stead Family Children's Hospital in Iowa City, where he had undergone more than 70 COVID-19 tests, 16 operating room visits, 306 radiologic procedures and one long-awaited kidney transplant.

Typical childhood experiences such as trips to the supermarket, outdoor adventures and day care had been replaced by play mats in his room and stroller rides and gait trainer walksthrough the hospital corridors.His only views of the world outside had been what he could see from the hospital's campus.

But on Feb. 5, Aidan ventured out of the hospital and, for the first time in his life, felt the chilly winter air on his cheeks before takinghis firstcar ride, during which he watched the passing landscape from his car seatbefore dozing off to sleep.

About an hour and a half after leaving the hospital, his mother, Aron Donaldson, was finally able to introduce her sonto their Fort Madison home.

"At first, he was a little apprehensive," Donaldson told The Hawk Eye as Aidanpracticed pulling himself up on living room furniture. "He kind of had a little spot in the living room; he didn't venture far from there."

Donaldson had spent the months preceding Aidan's homecoming preparing his nautical-themed bedroom, but due to the toddler's health conditions, the mother and son have set up camp in the living room.

"I'm worried I'm not going to hear everything" if we're in different rooms," Donaldson said.

The living room and the nest of blankets Donaldson had laid out for him theresuitAidan just fine.He is, after all, used to one-room living. He has yet to venture into other parts of his home, thoughhe has been eyeing the kitchen.

"He kind of kept his little nest and, slowly, he just kind of spread his wings and now he's trying to get into everything," Donaldson said with a laugh.

"He's eating my furniture," she said. "He's wanting to go in the kitchen, but he hasn't really gone out of the living room yet, but he is acting like a toddler for sure."

In addition to testing out his new environment, Aidan's favorite pastimes include watching videos "They finally had to limit his screen time," Donaldson said with a laughof the staff at the children's hospital who have become like family to herand Aidan over the past 2 years as well as being read toand playing with toys, especially his avocado guitar.

Donaldson gave Aidan the guitar as a Christmas gift while he was still in the hospital. He loved it so much thatshe and music therapistKirsten Nelson began to come up with a song. Nelson passed it along to children's songwriterAlastair Moock, who polished it up and added to the lyrics to compose "Aidan Avocado."

"It's about Aidan needing a pit, meaning kidney. When Aidan started getting mobile, he alligator-rolled all the time," Donaldson explained. "It's about living on an island in the sea, rolling around and not a care in the world."

When Aidan's medical team threw him a going-away partyearlier this month, Moock appeared via Zoom to play and sing the song for Aidan, but with a twist.

Moock "sang it for him, but he changed the words around a little bit saying, 'Now he has his pit,'" Donaldson said.

Aidan was born seven weeks ahead of schedule, on July 5, 2018, weighing just 4 pounds, 10 ounces. Neither of his kidneys was working, and he was in end-stage renal disease, requiring dialysis at birth.

"He was born with what's called dysplastic kidneys, so the kidneys just didn't work well early on," said Dr. Lyndsay Harshman,director of the hospital's pediatric kidney transplant program.

Aidan's kidneys hadn't formed properly as babies grow in utero, their kidneys help to form the amniotic fluid that helps to form their lungs, "so it's pretty common that babies with neonatal kidney disease also have cardiac and lung issues," Harshman said.

Thatwas true for Aidan. In addition to renal disease, the newborn also suffered from pulmonary hypertension, meaning the blood vessels coming off his heart toward his lungs were constricted to the point they did not allow adequate blood flow and circulation of oxygen, meaning Aidan also needed long-term support from a ventilator and long-term medications to help decrease the pressure in his heart and lungs.

"Aidan is one of the most complicated kids we've had in a while here because of the cardiac concerns and the ventilator requirements and things," Harshman said.

He spent most of the first year of his life in intensive care, on a ventilator and sedated for several months.

Donaldson, who is Aidan's biological grandmother, was there at every turn, spending any time off from her job at International Eyecare with Aidan while working with the Department of Human Services to adopt him after it became clear his biologicalparents were not prepared to care for him.

"I think he needed me, I needed him, and we just had a good bond, and I knew that I just wanted to take care of him," Donaldson said. "He's such a fighter."

Aidan's condition gradually improved to the point where his heart and lung status were better controlled, as was his dialysis. Then it was on to the inpatient floor.

"Once we were able to get him out of the ICU literally after a year of his life and up to the inpatient floors, that's wherehe started to begin to have more developmental progress," Harshman said. "Because when kids are sick their whole first year of life, they forgo those baby milestones, so he had a lot of catching up to do: learning how to roll over, how to sitall of those things."

Once Aidan's medical team felt his heart and lungs were strong and stable enough to undergo a kidney transplant, he was put on the transplant donor list.

The lifesaving kidney came in November from a deceased donor.

Donaldson had been told to expect Aidan to flourish after his transplant, but she was surprised by how quickly his development took off.

"It was within days," Donaldson said. "It was amazing."

Even Aidan's medical team was surprised by Aidan's progress.

"None of us really expected it, and all of us were cautiously concerned that he would have a rocky course post-transplant and he surprised all of us," Harshman said. "After his transplant, it was really just unbelievable. The kid was standing up more in the crib in the ICU after his transplant within days, and we were like, 'Excuse me? Who is this child?'"

Within a week of getting his transplant, his need for a ventilator, which he was still using at night and occasionally during the day, dropped significantly. Within a month, he no longer needed it at all.

Three months later, he was ready to go home.

"When a family is going through such sadness from losing a loved one and they make that decision to donate their loved one's organs or honor that loved one's decision to donate organs, the impact it has can't even be quantified, especially for kids, because they get a chance at life that they wouldn't have had otherwise," Harshman said.

The next six months will be especially critical for Aidan due to the risks that his body might rejecthis new kidney, as well as an increased risk of infection caused by his anti-rejection medications. Harshman hopes his new kidney will last for at least the next 20 years.

"A transplant's not a cure,"she said."It's the bridge to the next transplant."

In the meantime, Donaldson says she's looking forward to warmer weather, so that she and Aidan will be able to enjoy more firsts, including those that can take place only outside, like afirst stroller ride through the park.

You can register to become an organ, eye and tissue donor at the Iowa Donor Network website.

Youalso can mark "yes" authorizing organ donationwhen you get your drivers license renewed or whengetting a hunting, fishing or fur-harvesting license.

By registering, you authorize your organs, eyesand tissues to be donated at the time of your death. If a donated organ, eyeor tissue cannot be used for transplant, an effort will be made to use the donation for research, the website says.

The website saysthe Iowa organ waiting list as of Dec. 1 had485 Iowansawaiting kidneys;heart, 24; lungs, 10; liver, 40; andkidney/pancreas, 6.

The rest is here:
Fort Madison toddler was hospitalized the first 946 days of his life. Then a kidney transplant opened his world. - Burlington Hawk Eye