Iowa Boy Goes Home After Spending First 2 1/2 Years in Hospital

The first two-and-a-half years of his life. That's how long Aidan Moles spent at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital before finally going home.

When Aidan was born on July 5, 2018, he weighed 4 pounds, 10 ounces. He was seven weeks early. Aidan also had no kidney function and was on dialysis. He would be on oxygen nearly the entire time he spent in the hospital. The toddler also had a heart problem and infections. About three months ago, Aidan got a new kidney, which was a game-changer for the little guy.

When it came time to go home earlier in February, Aidan's mom, Aron Donaldson, told Our Quad Cities how excited she was for some of her son's firsts:

Seeing his reaction to his first car ride, getting him home and just letting him crawl all over the place. There was a time that we weren’t even sure that he was going to make it. I just think he’s going to make the most of everything. I hope that he keeps up the good work.

Aidan and Aron were both lucky to have Dr. Lyndsay Harshman on their team. She's the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital's medical doctor of pediatric kidney transplant. Harshman talked to Our Quad Cities about her feelings when patients like Aidan finally get to go home, and specifically about how he's doing:

They’re like my own kids, so when I see one of my own kids leave our nest here, it does tug at my heartstrings. Right now, his kidney function is looking beautiful, and he is looking great. It’s just crazy how quickly he is growing.

In Aidan's young life, he celebrated his first two birthdays and first three Thanksgiving Days and Christmas Days in the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital (UISFCH). In that time, he'd been to the operating room 16 times, had more than 300 radiologic procedures, and a kidney transplant that saved his life.

When Aidan finally got to go home to Fort Madison earlier this month, after more than 940 days in the hospital, his mom told the UISFCH,

I’m excited he just gets to be a kid, you know? Do all those little things. It’s just going to be nice to be able to get off work and come home and see him, just to have him here.

What a story. What a fighter. Godspeed to Aidan, Aron, and the entire family.