Children's Miracle Network: Aidan Doyle's Story

When you see little Aidan playing on the floor in his toy-filled bedroom, it's hard to imagine that he was born with serious, almost fatal, health conditions.

“I think I cried every single night for a couple weeks,” said mother Sarah Doyle.

Parents Mike and Sarah Doyle first got word of a problem at a routine ultrasound during the pregnancy.

“We didn't know much until a few days later, and they did another ultrasound and found out that his liver intestines and gallbladder were growing in the umbilical cord and they were not within the abdomen,” Sarah said.

It was a shock to the couple, but it was a treatable condition. After Aidan was born, doctors wanted to operate immediately.

“I just didn't feel that was good for him. He was on a ventilator when he was born and I knew if we did anything, if we pushed anything in, it would get worse,” said Sarah.

And things did get worse. After a few weeks, more problems surfaced, and Aidan wasn't doing well. He was eventually transferred to Children's Hospital in Boston.

“He was a tough customer because he really had a lot of problems,” said Dr. Andrew Jennings.

Jennings, along with a team of doctors at Children's started treatment on Aidan, and over a period of a few weeks, it was clear things weren't looking good.

“This child also had other life threatening problems. His heart was in his belly. He had this big hole in his diaphragm. His sternum wasn't formed right,” said Jennings.

At seven months, Aidan started undergoing numerous surgeries.

“Sometimes we'd just drive back into the hospital because we couldn't sleep,” said Mike Doyle.

Doctors were searching for ways to treat Aidan’s problems without making his overall condition worse.

“This is a dance, a very careful interplay of all these experts to get this child to get through these procedures. We can’t just treat one thing. We have to think if we treat this how is it going to effect everything else,” said Jennings.

They were able to move his heart upward out of his abdomen, but many of his organs were still outside his body, and doctors were searching for ways to fix that over the course of many months.

It wasn't easy, and many agreed it would be up to Aidan to fight and pull through.

“Deep in my heart, I knew he'd come home, but you had – there’s doubts,” Sarah said.

After 328 days and many operations, Aidan beat the odds.

Doctors were able to get his organs inside his abdomen and control his other problems. Aidan was finally able to leave the hospital.

“It's an absolute miracle that he did come home,” said Sarah.

Aidan's health started to thrive once he got home. He's now an average boy, running around the home and playing with toys.

“He's got a good battle scar, but he otherwise has just forged ahead,” said Sarah.

Mike and Sarah are grateful. They trusted their gut and didn't operate on Aidan immediately after he was born.

With all of the additional problems that surfaced later on, it was a decision that might have helped save Aidans' life.

“The doctors are extremely talented and brilliant, but when it comes to your own child, you have to make those final decision and you need to know your child,” Sarah said.