Community rallies around toddler facing kidney transplant

ROOSEVELT — The basketball Kaden McCormick is packing around is nearly as big as he is.

The gregarious toddler is quick to smile and give a high five to the older kids who chased the ball down the handicap ramp Monday night inside Roosevelt Junior High School, return it to him and then chase it again.

"Ball! Ball!" he shouts each time, his tiny hands outstretched.

A framed photo on a nearby table shows the 22-month-old Roosevelt boy wearing a Superman costume. Unlike the Man of Steel, Kaden's weakness isn't Kryptonite. It's his kidneys.

"It's been awful, absolutely awful," says Kaden's mom, Krista McCormick.

"The worst thing is to have to hold him down while you give him a shot or while they draw blood on him," she said. "No one likes to see their kids in pain."

McCormick was still pregnant with her son when doctors discovered a blockage in his urethra. Plans were made to deliver Kaden at Primary Children's Medical Center, but he came one month early and the plan was scrapped.

At 2 weeks old, Kaden underwent his first surgery. It cleared the blockage, but there was bad news — he was in kidney failure. He would need constant medical care and, at some point soon, a transplant.

McCormick and her husband, Curtis, have medical insurance. Organ transplants, however, are not covered and they worried about how they would pay $250,000 for the surgery.

That's when doctors at Primary Children's introduced the couple to the Children's Organ Transplant Association. The nonprofit organization based in Bloomington, Ind., was founded in 1986 with the mission of helping families pay for transplant-related expenses.

The McCormicks contacted COTA, which provided fundraising ideas and helped set up a donation account for Kaden. The organization told the family they'd need to raise at least $100,000 to help pay for Kaden's transplant.

Monday night, nearly 150 Duchesne County residents turned out at Roosevelt Junior High School for a benefit Dutch oven dinner and auction to help raise money for Kaden's account. The event raised about $21,000 — an amount that was bolstered by a $10,000 donation from Uintah Basin Medical Center in Roosevelt.

Lunnetta Harding has spearheaded the fundraising effort on her grandson's behalf and says the community support has been humbling.