more events »

Lauren Shea, 8, feeds her little brother, Aiden, at home Friday in West Fargo. Dave Wallis / The Forum
For more related content visit InForum
	"Mighty Aiden"
	Aiden and family

A feeding tube is the only outward sign of the medical battles Aiden Shea has fought since his premature birth.

His parents, Chris and Jill Shea of West Fargo, call him their miracle baby.

He was born three weeks premature on Aug. 6. A few days later, just as he was about to go home, he developed a fever. The cause turned out to be a virus that attacked his liver – requiring an emergency liver transplant when he was just 10 days old.

But his delayed homecoming ended up coming sooner than his doctors once thought possible.

Aiden’s “welcome home” day came Tuesday – the first day Jill Shea had been at home since leaving on a midnight air ambulance ride to accompany her newborn son to a transplant center in Pittsburgh for the emergency surgery.

“He just never gave up,” Jill said. “He was our little miracle, fighting all the way.”

Chris Shea was unable to see his son in person for nine days after Aiden’s transplant operation, which lasted half a day.

He was recuperating from his own bout of major surgery – an operation at a hospital across town where a quarter of his liver was removed for transplantation. His liver provided the closest tissue match for Aiden.

“I was able to see him on camera for a few days there,” Chris said.

A Web camera broadcast his son – tethered to a breathing machine and IV tubes and monitors, sleeping under heavy sedation – to his father’s bedside.

Chris, still recuperating from the Aug. 17 donor surgery, said his soreness is a pale version of the ordeal his son has endured, often with a smiling face and cheery manner.

“I can’t even imagine what he’s going through,” Chris said. “Thank God he’ll have no recollection of this.”

In the refrigerator of their home in the Charleswood neighborhood, Jill keeps an insulated lunchbox with the 11 medications he must take daily, including two drugs to prevent tissue rejection.

But his doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh are impressed with his recovery. Initially, they told his parents that Aiden probably wouldn’t be able to return home until December.

Instead, Aiden was released from the children’s hospital after 40 days, but still required close monitoring during the following 35 days he spent at a nearby residency hotel.

“That was a huge day,” Jill said of Aiden’s release from the hospital. “Kind of scary.”

Scary because she was without the 24/7 care of a team of specialists, although they were a phone call away and visible from the terrace of their home away from home.

“I feel like I went through nursing education,” she said, recalling the nine hours of instruction she got before taking Aiden from the hospital.

Aiden’s triumphant trip down the concourse at Hector International Airport was made in the arms of his 8-year-old sister, Lauren. A group of family members was waiting, wearing “Mighty Aiden” T-shirts with a Superman-inspired logo.

Aiden slept most of the trip, involving two flights. He receives extra feedings to maintain normal growth while his body continues to heal.

He will require more surgery between the ages of 1 and 2 to completely close his incision, left partly open to accommodate the larger liver.

Aiden goes to MeritCare for regular blood draws, with results sent to his doctors in Pittsburgh. His parents plan to take him there in February, six months after the transplant, for a checkup.

The Sheas, who have come to regard Pittsburgh as a second home, joke that all their vacations will be in that city. That’s not all bad for Chris, an avid sports fan who follows the Steelers and Penguins.

Because he was so young at the time of the transplant, and his immune system so underdeveloped, Aiden hopefully will be able to someday do without immune suppression drugs to prevent rejection, doctors say.

The couple are grateful for the outpouring of community support the family has received, including 300 motorcyclists who participated in a benefit run.

They’re also grateful for the excellent health care, in both Fargo and Pittsburgh, that has kept their son alive. The first live-donor liver transplant to a newborn was performed 20 years ago.

Their biggest worry now: keeping him away from flu viruses, which pose a serious threat to Aiden’s compromised immune system.

For his part, Aiden sleeps a lot. And beams those bright blue eyes at his mom.

“He makes the biggest smile,” Jill said. “He just melts your heart.”

Even dad isn’t immune.

“Jill and I have a feeling that he’s going to be one spoiled little guy,” Chris said.

Oh, and Chris would like to see Aiden wearing a hockey jersey someday. “We’re hoping for that,” he said. “If he’s not, we’re OK with it.

---

Readers can reach Forum reporter Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522