Hospital Helps Keep Boy Alive, Then Sends Him to Super Bowl

February 2, 2009
Hospital Helps Keep Boy Alive, Then Sends Him to Super Bowl
By ALAN SCHWARZ
NYTIMES

TAMPA, Fla. — Of all the fans cheering for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday — they outnumbered Arizona Cardinals fans at Raymond James Stadium by probably 2 to 1 — one small voice was particularly notable.

Shane Smith, a second grader from Paris, Pa., was at his first Steelers game, on his eighth birthday, no less. His father, Chad, sat next to him. And Chad’s former kidney was working quite nicely inside Shane’s body, courtesy of a transplant last June.

“This is unbelievable!” Shane said just before kickoff. “My friends say I’m so lucky.”

The Smiths were the guests of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, whose doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh performed Shane’s surgery. Three other western Pennsylvania youngsters treated at Children’s Hospital were flown to Tampa for the game with a parent: Kiyleaha Chatman, 6; Gary Gray, 10; and Colton Myers, 17.

Shane Smith was born with dysplastic kidneys, meaning they were damaged in the womb and were very small and ineffective at birth.

Doctors told his father that Shane could not start dialysis until he was the size of a 2-year-old and that he might not make it that long.

Only last June did doctors determine that Chad Smith could donate one of his kidneys to his son. The surgery soon followed, and Shane has been healthy ever since.

“We found out on Wednesday we were going to the Super Bowl — on his birthday — and Shane was just screaming on the phone,” Chad Smith said. “I was at the dentist’s office, and I couldn’t understand what he was saying. And when he said where we were going, I was like, ‘O.K., sure we are.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/sports/football/02boy.html