To look at him, little Kyle Aitken is like any other four-year-old who loves riding his scooter and playing outside with his friends .... but behind his cheeky grin is a story of bravery, for he is battling chronic kidney disease.
Even before he was born in April 2005, mum Caryn, 22, knew that her unborn child would have challenges ahead. Fearing her baby would be born disabled after a 30-week scan detected "abnormalities", Caryn was told that her son, in fact, would face a lifetime of kidney problems and would eventually require a transplant.
The full-time mum said: "It was quite hard to take. I was told my baby had kidney failure and, while in the womb, he was diagnosed with posterior urethral valves. There was a blockage in his urethra and it was causing the urine to back up.
"I was induced at 36 weeks because they had to help him and get him out.
"I wasn't really ready." Caryn was devastated as her newborn son was transferred to intensive care at the Queen Mother's Maternity Unit in Glasgow. Because she was recovering in the mother-and-baby unit, Caryn was unable to see critically-ill Kyle so nurses pinned photos of him on the wall.
His rare condition, PUV, which causes severe bloating and pain, affects just one in 36,000 births in the west of Scotland each year.
At just three days old, Kyle - who weighed 5lb 5oz - had emergency surgery to repair the blockage in his urethra, the tube which carries urine to the outside of the body.
Caryn, from Bellshill in Lanarkshire, admitted: "I was told that he might not make it. I was only 18 and I didn't know what was happening. I was all over the place. They prepared me for the worst.
"The operation only had a 60 per cent success rate and that was a worry.
"You try to block it out but you will always remember the beeps of the machines."
As he recovered from major surgery, baby Kyle lay motionless in an incubator with bubble wrap around him to keep him warm while his parents held his tiny hand.
Within a few weeks, Kyle was transferred to the hospital's high dependency unit.
Caryn said: "I got the fright of my life when I visited him in intensive care and his incubator was empty.When I saw him in high dependency he was lying there wearing a babygrow and mitts. I'd never seen him in clothes before and he looked totally different.
"That was when I realised I had a baby and he wasn't just something to look at."
As Kyle gained strength, he was moved to the renal ward at Yorkhill hospital and at 14 weeks old, was allowed home.
Because of his condition, Kyle was tube-fed and Caryn was trained how to administer his daily medication through tubes in his nose. This was common practice until Kyle was two-and-half and his tubes were finally removed. Following his ordeal, Kyle's left kidney does not function at all and just 40 per cent of his right one is working normally. Because his kidneys are not doing what they should, Kyle also suffers from raised phosphate in his blood stream which causes his extreme discomfort in his legs.
In a bid to manage his illness, the tot must also drink three litres of water a day and follow a special diet - which forbids him from consuming childhood goodies such as chocolate, crisps and ice-cream.
But Kyle, who will start school in August 2010, never complains. As he tucked into his favourite snack of tea and toast, he said: "I love all my food.
"My favourite foods are everything I am not allowed, like chocolate, crisps and haggis, but I love tea and toast. I dip my toast in the tea."
Proud mum Caryn added: "He says 'I am on a diet' and he just gets on with it. He's a good wee eater. He knows if he doesn't eat, he'll get his tube back in.
"He's really good natured. He just comes in and takes his medication.
"He knows he's different but he's so calm about it which makes it easier."
Although Kyle is progressing well, and now only visitsYorkhill for check-ups every three months, the remaining 40 per cent of his functioning kidney could fail at any time. That would spell months, or even years, on kidney dialysis as he waits for a suitable donor.
Doctors initially predicted this could happen before Kyle's fourth birthday, but he reached that milestone in April.
Now mum-of-one Caryn is "dreading" the day her son will need to go back into hospital, but she knows that a transplant could bring an end to Kyle's problems. She added: "When he was in hospital as a baby, I felt as if I couldn't cope. But I needed to be strong for me and Kyle.
"Now we're just waiting for his kidneys to pack up. A transplant will give Kyle a better quality of life but they won't put him on the list now, it's too early and he's not getting any worse.
"To look at him and see how healthy he looks, it's hard to believe he has chronic kidney disease.
"He loves playing with his friends although he can't run about for too long as he gets breathless. I try to encourage him to do things because I don't want him to be left out."
In a bid to raise vital funds to improve the quality of life of other kidney patients as well as her son's, Caryn has thrown herself into fundraising for Kidney Research UK and Yorkhill hospital, where her son has been treated since diagnosis.
In May, Caryn was among 40 fundraisers to trek 150 miles along the GreatWall of China in six days. In doing so, she raised £5000 for Kidney Research UK.
She said: "The charity has made such a difference to people's lives and it will be a big part of Kyle's future."
Now Caryn is planning to climb Ben Nevis in October and Mount Kilimanjaro next year but before she does she's staging a race night and disco in Tannochside Miners' Welfare Club in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, on July 24. Proceeds will be split between Kidney Research UK andYorkhill hospital
