I Made a Promise to My Son

As explained to to Jaimie Seaton

When our son Aidan was in pre-K, the instructors needed to put him in a gifted university. But I felt like he was still a toddler, and I needed him to have a regular childhood and not be overcome with schoolwork, so my partner and I opted to preserve him in the exact faculty, in which he performed soccer and chess. Even at that younger age, he was a excellent chess player.

We experienced no rationale to think that anything was incorrect with him or that anything at all was heading on in his physique right up until the latter part of very first quality, in late March, when Aidan started off acquiring vision troubles. He could not see peripherally. He would bump into matters and he started out crafting on an angle, neither of which seemed a big deal at that time. We just believed he needed eyeglasses and that it would be an straightforward resolve.

Aidan in 2006

We went to an ophthalmologist and a pediatric ophthalmologist, and they both of those stated he had 20/20 eyesight. So, then we went to a retina professional, our pediatrician, and at last to a neurologist who did a bodily checkup. He didn’t feel everything was erroneous but encouraged an MRI to be extensive.

When we obtained the effects of the MRI again in June, it was the initial time we’d heard about this problem named adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), which destroys the myelin in the brain and affects males most severely. ALD influences all areas of neurological functioning and with Aidan it affected his eyesight 1st. A person’s ability to listen to, see, walk, communicate and consume — all of that is sooner or later taken away until finally you are in a vegetative point out and finally, die.

There was previously a large amount of injury carried out by the time Aidan was diagnosed, and we knew we experienced to do every thing we could to preserve his existence.

We experienced a excursion to Disney Planet presently prepared when we acquired the prognosis, and we determined it was vital for our family members to go. Aidan cherished all the rides and was fearless. He did not know what was going on, and we experimented with to make the finest of it. I’m grateful that we designed that trip mainly because it was the very last issue we did as a spouse and children prior to Aidan went into the clinic.

It was overwhelming to have our lives turned upside down from one particular 2nd to the upcoming. Almost everything was fine — and then we been given this lifetime-altering prognosis. When that occurs, you will not really have a ton of time to think. We had been in this manner to help save Aidan’s lifetime, and our choices experienced to be made quite quickly.

There are a handful of hospitals in the state that have abilities in this problem, one particular of which is in Minnesota, so we ended up on a airplane to Minnesota the following week. At that time, in 2011, the only remedy for ALD was a bone marrow transplant, and Aidan was eligible. This was our only possibility, so we opted for it and moved our loved ones down to North Carolina so he could get remedy at Duke.

That was incredibly hard mainly because we were being dwelling in a city where by we didn’t know any person, while I’m grateful that Aidan’s grandparents arrived down and stayed with us and assisted with our daughter, Sienna, who was 5 at the time.

We just lived day by day, using turns living in the hospital mainly because we never ever remaining Aidan on your own. It was turmoil, praying for a very good result but getting hit with far more and a lot more undesirable information.

Aidan been given his bone marrow transplant on his seventh birthday. But due to the fact he experienced a late-phase analysis, he misplaced all of his abilities and he spent seven months in the clinic ahead of staying transferred to NYU, where he used an further three months.

On April 29, 2012, Aidan died at the age of 7 ½.

Aidan in 2010

Though I was dwelling in the hospital, I did investigation on just about anything that could change the study course of Aidan’s issue, and I remember lying in the bed with him and looking at that there was a new child screening take a look at for ALD — but not 1 point out was putting it to use. I knew that it would have meant the distinction in between daily life and demise for Aidan as properly as 1000’s of other boys out there. However this affliction is exceptional, it’s not that uncommon: It strikes 1 in 15,000. So why was not the test part of the schedule newborn screening accomplished in every single point out?

I termed the newborn screening lab in Albany as I lay in bed subsequent to Aidan. I acquired one particular of the directors on the phone and was informed that they required ALD to be tested for, but, as a federal government company, their fingers had been tied.

I just understood at that moment that I wanted to do anything I could to avoid this from occurring to other boys and other family members. By the conclusion of 2012, I had started out a foundation in Aidan’s honor and embarked on a mission to have each and every baby in New York screened for ALD.

Finally, right after about 6 months of preventing, Aidan’s Law was signed in New York, on March 29, 2013 — precisely 11 months to the working day of dropping Aidan — generating it the first condition in the place to take a look at all babies born for ALD. Due to the fact that time, our foundation, ALD Alliance, has labored in numerous other states to include ALD screening. Now we are testing for ALD in 29 states and doing work toward federal laws to guarantee each and every toddler born in the course of the country is tested for all new child screening situations that have solutions.

I come to feel grateful to Aidan since I feel like I’m a vehicle, and my adore for him keeps me likely. I promised him that I would make this transpire in advance of I died.

I’ve experienced the privilege of assembly the relatives of a boy who was diagnosed in New York, thanks to newborn screening performed mainly because of Aidan’s Law. I was so grateful to meet up with them and to know that his life will be distinct due to the fact of my son. Right now, I’ve met quite a few people as we carry on our get the job done and hold once-a-year ALD Standards of Treatment Meetings each and every January. I’m grateful and blessed to have these people in my daily life and to know their lives will be distinct since of new child screening.

I consider Aidan would be proud of me.