Baby Recovers After Kidney Transplant

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Baby Recovers After Kidney Transplant
Johnston Police Officer Gives Organ To Son

POSTED: 8:03 pm CDT April 9, 2009
UPDATED: 7:39 am CDT April 10, 2009

JOHNSTON, Iowa --

A Johnston police officer who gave his kidney to his son said the operation was a success, even though it didn’t go exactly as planned.

Trae Hamilton, 1, had life-saving surgery two weeks ago and is already showing signs of improvement.

“As you can tell, there’s hardly no bump at all,” said his father, Travis Hamilton.

Doctors at the University of Iowa Hospital removed one of Travis Hamilton’s kidneys and transplanted it into Trae, who was born with nonfunctioning kidneys.

“(The doctor) told me my kidney was much larger than he had expected and that Trae’s kidneys were much smaller than he had expected, as well,” said Travis Hamilton.

“Doctor Reed said he’d never put a kidney the size of Travis’ in a baby the size of Trae,” said Trae’s mother, Emily Hamilton.

To make it work, doctors had to remove one of Trae’s other organs.

“So over on his right side, they took out his appendix, as well as his kidney, and that allowed them enough room to put mine in,” Travis Hamilton said. “It was a big success.”

The adult-sized kidney started working right away inside Trae’s tiny body.

“It was pretty emotional,” said Emily Hamilton. “Travis was pretty emotion the first three or four days, knowing what he gave to his son.”

The Hamiltons were in the hospital for a week and a day and said Trae was a trouper the entire time.

“He was alert,” said Travis Hamilton. “He knew everybody. He was clapping and laughing, doing all the things Trae does.”

Doctors said they expect Trae to live a happy, healthy life, thanks to his dad.

“It was a very rewarding experience for me to give him my kidney and he doesn’t know right now, but in the future, we’ll have quite a story to share with each other, and a bond that will be there forever,” Travis Hamilton said.

The family’s friends and co-workers held a fundraiser for them called Transplant for Trae and collected money at an Iowa Chops game last month. The Hamiltons said they wanted to thank everyone who donated.

http://www.kcci.com/news/19143354/detail.html