Before Caleb was born, the odds were stacked against his survival. The challenges increased at age 2 when he was put on the kidney donor list. Caleb and his family needed top expertise, complex medical care, and emotional support for the long journey ahead.

The best care and endless support saved Caleb’s life.

Cincinnati Children’s helped Caleb beat the odds because our collective expertise and experience runs deep across the entire health system. Our team provided a combination of advanced treatments, knowledge and emotional support not found elsewhere.

Caleb’s first life-saving surgery was in utero six weeks before birth, and the second at 2 days old. He was diagnosed with a rare disorder that affected his bladder, urinary tract and lungs, and ultimately led to kidney failure. At age 2, Caleb was placed on the kidney transplant donor list and had dialysis three days a week for four hours a day.

Caleb’s family waited three years for a kidney. During that time, Cincinnati Children’s turned waiting into living through world-class medical expertise that was equally matched by emotional care for the entire family. His hospital room became a second home filled with superhero images and joy. He was dubbed the “Mayor of Dialysis” and met many celebrity visitors including Cincinnati Reds players, the Goo Goo Dolls and more.

At 5 years old, Caleb got his new kidney. The surgery was performed by our pediatric kidney transplant team, one of the most experienced in the nation with a current one-year survival rate of 100%.

When Caleb was on dialysis, “ordinary” days were just a dream. Now, he is a thriving middle schooler with a new kidney and a bright future. Caleb considers his doctors and nurses family because they cared so much about him.

Why Cincinnati Children’s was Right for Caleb

Caleb’s parents lived in Northern Kentucky and were already close to our world-class care. But each year, families from all 50 states and dozens of countries travel to Cincinnati to receive the same level of expert care to help ensure the best outcomes for their children. Here’s why:

Our doctors are global leaders.

Our specialists are internationally renowned for their expertise, spanning from the most common to the rarest pediatric health conditions. This enables them to take on a higher volume of medically complex cases than other children’s hospitals, drawing on their unmatched experience to deliver exceptional care.

For example, our team has treated more than 8,000 women with high-risk pregnancies and performed more than 850 kidney transplants. They brought that collective experience into Caleb’s care and surgeries.

Innovation drives our care.

Our doctors and researchers develop breakthrough medical innovations that advance the knowledge and treatment of pediatric medicine. These advanced treatments are often only available at Cincinnati Children’s. Every day, we use those innovations to create unique solutions and provide the best possible outcomes for the most challenging and rare medical conditions.

We’re also innovative about where we deliver care, like our Critical Care Building where patients like Caleb stay. It is one of the world’s largest pediatric intensive care units and allows our highly trained providers to give focused, innovative and around-the-clock care to patients who need us the most.

Our top-ranked teams work together.

Caleb benefited from a wealth of expertise, including fetal care, urology and nephrology that are all ranked in the top 10 in the nation, plus many other specialists. These doctors are on the same team. They constantly communicate with each other and make decisions together. This gives families the confidence and hope that only comes from having a team of top experts caring for their child.

That collaboration is one of the many reasons why Cincinnati Children’s has proudly been one of the top-ranked children’s hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for more than 15 years.

Parents are partners in care.

Our providers actively engage parents and caregivers. We involve and support them in every step of care. That’s why Caleb’s mom fondly recalls the support the entire family received from their child life specialists and other care givers. It’s also why more than 90% of patients and families rate us a 9 or 10 out of 10 for their patient experience.

After all, we believe a child’s story is so much bigger than their diagnosis, no matter how common or rare. Because helping all children live their best possible life is at the center of everything we do. 

For remarkable outcomes, Cincinnati Children’s is the one.