Chesterfield baby undergoes three major surgeries for extremely rare kidney condition - only the fifth recorded case in the UK

One-year-old Jayden Brown has a rare condition called anterior urethral valves, which was causing a blockage in his urethra preventing him from passing urine that was swelling and damaging his kidneys.

His mum Sarah Frisby discovered the problem during her 29-week scan at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

She was monitored by the foetal medical team at Sheffield Children’s Hospital and a week later was told that Jayden’s kidneys had worsened.

Sarah went into spontaneous labour, with Jayden arriving six weeks early at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. He was taken to the neonatal surgical unit (NSU) at Sheffield Children’s Hospital and at just two days old, went into surgery.

After finding the blockage the complexity of Jayden’s condition was revealed with Jayden being only the fifth recorded case in the UK.

Jayden would need to wait until he was three months old for the surgeons to be able to attempt to remove the blockage so he was given a catheter and after six weeks on the neonatal surgical unit he was able to go home.

During the second procedure the blockage still couldn’t be removed and with Jayden’s condition getting worse the decision was made for him to undergo a procedure known as a urethrostomy which redirects the ureters, the tubes that carry urine from your kidneys to the bladder, to a surgical opening just below his testicles.

Sarah said: “It was a very complicated surgery - even the consultant needed her old professor to assist as no one at Sheffield Children’s Hospital had performed the operation. Thankfully it was a success, and while it initially caused Jayden’s bladder to collapse, he has recovered well. They plan to reverse the procedure when he’s three or four, but he’s like a different baby since that operation, shuffling around everywhere and always smiling.”

Throughout all of Jayden’s surgeries Sarah and her partner Liam, were supported by The Sick Children’s Trust and its two ‘Homes from Home’ Magnolia and Treetop Houses which are located as part of the hospital.

Sarah added: “Having a place away from the hospital made such a difference, giving us the security of being so close to Jayden while allowing us to process everything that was happening. When Jayden was a week old he went into renal failure and we received a call from the hospital directly to the phone in our room at Magnolia House. After speaking with the nurse, we went over to the ward in our pjs and sat with Jayden while waiting for a doctor to discuss his blood results. Magnolia House provided us with the ability to be with Jayden at any point day or night rather than travelling over 45 minutes from our home in Chesterfield. I can’t imagine how tough it would have been to be that far away from our two-day-old son while he was this poorly.”