4-year-old is off kidney dialysis after receiving 2,001st pediatric organ transplant

Leland Wojcik, now 4, was born with Denys-Drash syndrome, a rare disease that can cause malformation of the kidneys and genitalia. When Leland was just 4 months old, his mother Becky noticed something was wrong.

“He started getting sick where he was vomiting up breast milk constantly,” Becky said. “He couldn’t keep anything down. I couldn’t even lay him down. We had to sleep together in a recliner for three weeks. Then all of a sudden, he started getting puffy in his face.”

She took him to the local emergency room multiple times over those three weeks, but was no closer to an answer, or any relief for the sick child. In early December of 2020, Leland got so puffy that he was gasping for air. Becky took Leland to the local hospital again. This time, the staff took one look at him and said he’d be admitted. They called an ambulance to transfer him to M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis. It was there that doctors discovered that Leland’s kidneys had failed.

After genetic testing, they learned the cause was Denys-Drash syndrome, which is the result of genetic changes in one gene. Denys-Drash syndrome affects less than 1 in 10,000 children, said Andrew Adams, MD, PhD, a transplant surgeon with M Health Fairview Pediatrics and a professor of surgery at University of Minnesota Medical School.

Denys-Drash syndrome is a precancerous condition with over 90% chance of progressing to a rare type of kidney cancer called Wilms tumor. Leland started kidney dialysis on December 10 and had both kidneys removed on December 30, 2020.

Leland spent two months in the hospital before returning home to Silver Lake, Minn., in February of 2021. Becky handled Leland’s care on her own and had to balance it with taking care of Leland’s three older siblings and her mother who was ill. The family was also experiencing an unsafe situation at home.

Still, Becky managed Leland’s at-home kidney dialysis, which took 12 hours per session. Leland was also on a feeding tube.

“People always ask how I handled it,” Becky said, “I would tell them. I want to save my baby boy, and I will do whatever I have to do to save him.”

Becky said that Leland did well on the treatment plan until June 30, 2021.

“The day after his first birthday, he went unresponsive,” Becky said. “And then we were hospitalized again for another month.”