Mother's kidney donation saves son’s life and inspires future donors

CHICAGO - It’s National Donate Life Month, and the Lurie Children’s Transplant Program is ringing in April with an extra push to become an organ and tissue donor.

A mom in the northwest suburbs is part of that push. 

Christine Brown is walking around with one less piece of herself but has gained an even bigger purpose: In April 2021, she donated her kidney to her son Aiden.

"No, you go into fight or flight, so looking back, there's parts of it that I don't even remember just because it happened so quickly you don't really have time to process what's happening, it's just going through what we need to do to save him," said Brown.

Aiden was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease when he was just 7 years old.  At the time, Christine was pushing doctors to find out why Aiden wasn’t growing. After receiving the diagnosis, the disease spread fast. 

Within six weeks, her smiley and active boy progressed to Stage 4 kidney disease. 
He was put on the transplant list for a new kidney.

"If we had not pushed to find out what was wrong, Aiden absolutely would have been in an emergency room in kidney failure," said Brown.

Lucky for Aiden, he didn’t have to join the 2,100 children on the national transplant list. His mom came in to help.

"His Dad and I went through genetic testing, and I was approved and a match and so then Aidan received my kidney," said Brown.

"The most amazing gift"

What they're saying:

"I wish we always had happy stories. Often, the stories end as beautifully as they do for Aiden," said Dr. Priya Verghese, who is the Medical Director of Pediatric Kidney Transplant and the Division Head of Nephrology at Lurie Children’s. "For a lot of our kids, though, they have parents that want to donate, but they can't. Because either they're not healthy themselves, or they are single parenting, and they need to look after their child after the transplant so they can donate. Or they have social circumstances that prevent them from pursuing that as an option."

Recently, Lurie has been breaking program records. 

In 2024, the hospital performed 142 pediatric solid organ and stem cell transplants, making it the top transplant center in procedure volume and patient survival rates.

"I don't think they realize how checking that box on their driver's license can impact so many lives," Verghese said, "That's what makes April such an important month. We really need people to donate kidneys. Because not everyone is as lucky as Aiden. We do rely on that kidney transplant list for a lot of our patients."

"Kidneys have a shorter lifespan. So, Aiden will need multiple transplants to live a full life. So, it's so important for us to share awareness, our story, to spread that because kidney donation doesn't have to be from a deceased donor. You could be a living donor and still save somebody's life, which is the most amazing gift," Brown said.

For now, Aiden is living life to the fullest after his long recovery in the hospital four years ago.

"I'm super-excited that I was able to still, like, do normal things," Aiden said.

But while Aiden grows, gets even better at the drums, and masters his golf swing, he, his family, and thousands of others know there is a fight to raise awareness and get everyone to register as an organ and tissue donor.

"They should definitely donate to help kids like me," Aiden said.