EASTON, Pa. — Aiden Hess sat quietly at the end of a long conference room table a few days ago as he finished wiping sleep from its eyes.
Hess is a young man of few words, bespectacled and sharing a friendly smile. One immediately gets a sense he’s the kind of fellow who would offer his bus seat to an elderly lady, help her off with her packages and wish her a pleasant day.
While others his age often answer questions with the unfiltered speed of a jackrabbit, 20-year-old Hess’s responses idle a moment before being delivered thoughtfully and softly.
He's an old soul, as his hobbies reveal. He’s a wood carver — long spoons are a specialty — has built a muzzleloader, is a coin collector and is studying for his ham radio license.
For the past 3 ½ years, Hess has worked at Redner’s Warehouse Markets in Palmer Township in customer service, training employees on the proper use of registers and self-checkouts, assisting customers with money orders and as a partial bookkeeper.
Those who’ve met Hess would say he kindly helps them with whatever they need.
Today, the helper needs your help.
He needs a kidney.
'He's been through enough'
A mother would prefer to be in a million other places than at a hospital for an emergency with her child.
But there was Melissa Hess at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia in search of her 4-year-old son.
Aiden had undergone a litany of medical tests there to determine the cause of blood in his urine. One test led to another. Then a kidney biopsy.
"We just need to find him a kidney."Christopher Hess, Aiden's father
On a July day in 2009, the boy’s diagnosis was about to be revealed to Hess and her husband, Christopher.
As Hess scanned the four children playing in the room, she didn’t see her son. A look of worry enveloped her.
A nurse approached and asked who she was looking for. She said Aiden Hess.
The nurse pointed to a child.
“He’s right here,” she said.
Melissa Hess was stunned.
“I didn’t recognize him because he was all blown up,” she said last week. “All swollen because of his condition. It didn’t look like Aiden.”
A short time later, the Hesses and Aiden were escorted into a separate room where Dr. Jonathan Heiliczer, a pediatric nephrologist, would share the diagnosis: IgA Nephropathy brought on by rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis.
The word jumble was understandably unfamiliar to the Hesses.
They would learn the condition, also known as Berger’s disease, is a chronic autoimmune kidney disorder characterized by the accumulation of immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies in the glomeruli, the tiny filters in the kidneys.
In simple terms, Aiden’s body identifies his kidneys as a virus and attacks them.
Once the kidney filters are destroyed, they don’t recover.
The news went from bad to worse: The condition is incurable.
“When Dr. Heiliczer told us what Aiden has, I was like, ‘Thank God it’s not cancer,’” Melissa Hess said.
The doctor’s response? Cancer would have been better.
“The doctor said he’d never seen a case as bad as Aiden’s,” Melissa said. “He told me he was worried Aiden might stroke out because his blood pressure meds weren’t working.”
The presumed one-night hospital stay turned into almost a month. Then discharged. Then back for two weeks.
A drug administered to “get the fire out” caused Aiden’s blood pressure to spike. Local doctors consulted with those from England for an alternate approach.
Experimental medications were chosen. The drug Cytoxan was administered for six months, to shut down his immune system in the hope the cells would reboot. Think turning a laptop off and then back on to resolve an issue.
Aiden spent 30 days in St. Christopher’s for fear the regimen could cause a stroke.
Over the years, Aiden — a 2023 graduate of Easton Area High School — has been in and out of the hospital.
“He’s been through enough,” Melissa Hess said, as she reached her hand and gently squeezed Aiden’s right arm.
'We just need to find him a kidney'
A father looked at a son he loves. What he doesn’t love is that the son has been cast in the medical crisis thrust upon him.
“He has anemia,” Christopher Hess said. “He has high blood pressure. His hemoglobin and iron levels are low, which make him cold even when it’s warm out.
“He takes 12 pills a day to keep the worst that could happen at bay.”
The father bowed his head, rubbed his palms across his face from chin to forehead and sighed.
The stress of a parent unable to instantly help their child, regardless of age, is palpable.
“We just need to find him a kidney,” Christopher Hess said.
'Too many things he wants to do'
At Aiden’s side were his parents, who would go to the ends of the Earth for him.
And they nearly have as they have traveled the state and beyond, searching and hoping and praying to find someone who would donate a kidney for their son.
The Hesses and their other three children cannot donate a kidney for a number of reasons.
A cadaver kidney is not preferred because, given Aiden’s disease, it would last only five to seven years before a replacement kidney would be needed.
Aiden has been placed on several organ donor lists. He has shared his story and need online with the National Kidney Registry.
The family has visited The University of Toledo Medical Center, among the leading kidney transplant facilities in the country.
Getting information, asking questions, traveling every highway and uneven dirt road to find their son a better life.
“Since January, Aiden has been on dialysis nine hours a day, every night,” Melissa Hess said, her eyes locked on her son. “If he turns on his side overnight, and the tube kinks, an alarm goes off, wakes him up.
“We just need someone, to find someone who will donate a kidney for him. I just hate to see him have to go through this every day.
"He’s too young. He has too many things he wants to do with his life.”
'We have relied on our faith'
The Hesses are people of deep faith. They are parishioners at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church in Palmer. And so they look to the sky with prayers that they hope fall upon God's compassionate ears.
“We have relied on our faith to help us through this,” Melissa Hess said.
“Aiden has been an altar server at the church. We took him to a healing Mass to be prayed over. He’s made it this long with these kidneys because God has been with him.”
Friends locally and as far away as Georgia have placed Aiden on prayer lists. They’ve also spoken to the heavens in hopes of helping him.
“People have prayed to St. Padre Pio, a priest from Italy, to ask for his intercession for healing for Aiden,” Christopher Hess said.
“As a thanks, Aiden has taken his name — Aiden Franklin Pio Hess.”
The future is uncertain, but Aiden has plans. He'd like a career in the HVAC industry. Interesting, since while the heat is on, he remains impressively cool.
Aiden is asked if there are times he looks to the sky and asks why.
"No," he said. "It is what it is. I guess if I wasn’t dealing with it," somebody else would have to.
'Our fingers are crossed'
Aiden Hess sat quietly as his parents recounted their nightmare and worry.
His mom has shared his story on social media. She plays a recording of a woman who lives in Palmer who saw Aiden’s story on her Facebook page and wants to help.
"I'd just say thank you."Aiden Hess
The woman is scheduling bloodwork to learn if she’s a candidate to donate a kidney. She says she is a mother and can understand what the family is going through.
She wishes Aiden well and hopes she can help out. She will let them know the results.
“Our fingers are crossed,” Melissa Hess said.
And if the stars align and a stranger donates a kidney to him, Aiden is asked what he might say to that person.
He looks down at the conference room table, ponders the question a moment, lifts his eyes toward the questioner and says only this:
“I’d just say thank you.”
Delivered thoughtfully and softly.
By an old soul.
EDITOR'S NOTE: To learn more about helping Aiden, send an email to akidney4aiden@gmail.com.
