Brandon is a goofy kid after kidney surgery and treatment
Brandon was only 17 months old when his parents felt a lump in his stomach. His pediatrician diagnosed a kidney tumor and immediately referred the family to Packard. One week later, the pediatric surgical team removed Brandon’s right kidney, which was consumed by a rare, bilateral Wilms tumor.
Within two months, however, the tumor had spread in Brandon’s left kidney. Oscar Salvatierra, MD, professor emeritus of surgery and of pediatrics, led an innovative 13-hour surgery to salvage the remaining organ. He removed Brandon’s left kidney, preserved it in the operating room with a special cold solution, cut away the tumor, irradiated the partial kidney, and then reconstructed and reimplanted it into the youngster’s body.
For seven long months, Brandon bravely endured chemotherapy and radiation treatment to fully beat the Wilms tumor, losing a lot of weight and all of his hair in the process. He would spend a week in the Hospital, then two weeks at home. His parents took their son’s tricycle to Packard and as he pedaled up and down the hallways, they pulled his IV cart behind him.
Today, at 8 years old, Brandon is tumor-free and doing very well with his single reconstructed kidney. “Goofy” is how his father describes him. He clicks on a video of him and his younger brother, Aaron, dancing on stage at their school to MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This,” and he says Brandon also loves the theatrical yelling that accompanies karate kicks.
As for the little things that can be irritating about an 8-year-old? “When you have a catastrophic event, I think your parenting style changes,” his mother, Keira, says. “He didn’t tie his shoe—who cares? He didn’t finish breakfast—who cares? He’s alive and he has a kidney that works.”