Special Event for Aaden Welton
Aaden Welton is an energetic 3 year old who enjoys playing with his two older brothers. On July 2nd, 2013, Aaden was at his 3 year check up when his pediatrician noticed a lump of some sort on his right kidney. An ultra sound was ordered immediately and confirmed there was in fact a large mass. He was rushed to American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison. Shortly after he was admitted, there was an entire team of doctors in his room. He was carted off to have a CT scan and he was diagnosed at that time with a stage 3 Cancer Wilms Tumor. His amazing team of doctors scheduled him for surgery the following morning to remove the entire kidney and implant a port in his chest to receive chemotherapy.
The surgery went according to plan, but unfortunately while removing his right kidney, it was discovered to have ruptured. This drastically changed his treatment plan. It was originally thought to have been 7 treatments of radiation and 25 weeks of chemo; now, it was to include 11 radiation treatments as well as 30 weeks of chemo. This was the most courageous little boy. He spent the next 6 days in the hospital recovering from surgery before we were allowed to take him home. We felt a strong sense of relief but the hardest part was yet to come. Treatment was set to begin right away that week where he endured 11 days of radiation treatments with chemotherapy simultaneously. Then came the medications. Aaden has never taken more than Tylenol so the many different prescriptions were very tough for him.
Through his treatment, he had 9 hospitalizations due to high fever, 10 blood transfusions, 10 platelet transfusions and daily Neupogen injections to keep his white blood cells at the proper level. Through all the fight and battle, he continues to find reasons to smile daily! We admire his strength to continue the fight and he is our SUPER HERO!