Kidney Transplant Patient Stories

Iowa’s only pediatric dialysis and transplant program offered the experience the Egan family wanted.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Aidan Moles has never ridden in a car. He’s never been inside a grocery store or a day care center, has never heard the sound of a dishwasher or washing machine. He’s never felt the cold air of a January day blow across his face. Hospital records list his address in Fort Madison, Iowa, but he’s never been inside the house. Or outside it. Until now.

When Andrew and his twin brother, Isaac, were born, it was discovered that Andrew was in kidney failure. He was rushed to University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital where it was determined that he would need a kidney transplant. After 2 months in the neonatal intensive care unit, Andrew went home on dialysis, and at 14 months old, he received a kidney from his mother.

Landon was born with only one kidney and several other complications that led immediately to kidney failure. Hospitals near his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were not able to care for pediatric kidney patients, so his family discussed moving back to Iowa—where his mother was from originally—so Landon could receive care at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

Ruth Powell meets Joshua Warren of Altoona, Iowa after she donated her kidney.

When Emeline’s parents learned their daughter had Down syndrome, they knew they wanted her to be born at UI Stead Family Children's Hospital. Newborns with Down syndrome often have health issues, and they wanted a hospital that could care for all of her needs.

Alex went in for a routine physical in 2009, not expecting to find anything wrong. The results were shocking. He was diagnosed with pediatric nephronophthisis, a serious kidney disorder, and immediately began dialysis. Due to the severity of his illness, Alex needed a kidney transplant, which he received in November 2009.

When he was 8 months old, Shawn-Brooklyn contracted bacterial meningitis, an inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and the spinal cord. Three days after he was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit at his local hospital, his kidneys failed and he needed dialysis. Since UI Stead Family Children's Hospital is the only facility in Iowa that offers pediatric dialysis, he came to UI Stead Family Children's Hospital.

Brandi’s life changed forever in October 2006; it started with a bloody nose that just wouldn’t stop. When her parents took her to the local hospital’s emergency room, her blood pressure was dangerously high and her kidneys had shut down. Air-lifted to UI Stead Family Children's Hospital, the only facility in Iowa that has a dedicated pediatric dialysis center, she began dialysis.