A GIFT OF LIFE BABY ONE OF SMALLEST TO GET NEW KIDNEY.

Byline: Mariko Thompson Staff Writer

Dylan Worthen defied all odds just being born alive 13 months ago.

To go home from the hospital Thursday - one of the youngest and smallest kidney transplant recipients ever - was beyond the hopes of anyone except a mother, a father and a surgeon willing to try.

A team of surgeons removed a kidney from Dylan's mother, Annette, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles nine days ago and transplanted it into the toddler's body.

Doctors estimate Dylan has a 90 percent chance of survival for the next two years and faces a lifelong battle against his body rejecting the transplant and being susceptible to infection.

Those concerns were nothing Thursday compared with the joy Annette and Ron Worthen felt when they got to their Saugus home and watched their two other children, Irene and Travis, hovering over their playful, energetic little brother.

``We've been waiting for this day for a long time,'' said a weary Ron. ``To see them both come out this good is unbelievable.'

Said Annette: ``I feel joy that we're finally taking him home. He's doing great. The doctors gave us hope that we were going to have our child. And here he is.''

On the day of the transplant, Dr. Louis Cohen, who performed Dylan's surgery, had one piece of advice for Ron: `Take off your watch.''

While he waited, Annette went into surgery to have a healthy kidney removed. Her kidney was then placed into their baby's abdominal cavity. For Ron, sitting on the sidelines for 4 1/2 hours was gut-wrenching.

``The doctors at Cedars-Sinai became our guardian angels,'' the father said. ``Dr. Cohen made a special trip before the surgery to tell me to take my watch off. He said these things always run long.''

At 13 months and 20 pounds, Dylan was the youngest and smallest infant ever to undergo a kidney transplant surgery at Cedars-Sinai. Though the ideal weight is about 25 pounds, the surgical team decided to proceed before dialysis became necessary.

``We're supposed to do kidney transplants and do them well,'' Cohen said. ``We're not always supposed to do them in 20-odd-pound children. These parents put their trust in us.''

For the Worthens, the transplant operation was the latest in a series of events since they began seeing fertility specialists seven years ago.

When Annette became pregnant, the Worthens - who adopted Irene, 4, and Travis, 3 - were thrilled to add to their family. Then a routine ultrasound in the fourth month of pregnancy detected an enlarged kidney.

Initially, the Worthens were told they could either terminate the pregnancy, or deliver a baby that would die either in utero or at birth. Three opinions later, the Worthens found Dr. Neil Silverman, a high-risk obstetrics specialist at Cedars-Sinai, who began the process for Dylan's transplant.

``It was hard,'' said Annette, holding Dylan in her lap while he drank from a bottle.

``We sat there in the kitchen one day and said: We're going to do everything in our power, and they're going to do everything in their power, to make this happen for us.''

Because of Annette's smaller build, her kidney was a better fit than Ron's. Annette underwent a procedure called laparoscopic nephrectomy, in which the kidney is removed through a small incision. Though the donor still faces the usual surgery risks from anesthesia and wound infection, this less invasive procedure decreases the risk associated with giving a kidney to ``almost zero,'' Cohen said.

Dylan's journey doesn't end here. Immunosuppression medications to prevent his body from rejecting the kidney must be administered daily for the rest of his life. Dylan must be monitored for side effects resulting from the medications. Because of the immunosuppressants, he also will be more susceptible to infections.

On Thursday, however, those battles were forgotten for the moment. The Worthens had a leisurely dinner at home. Irene and Travis, usually quick to run outdoors, stayed inside to play with their little brother.

``We're looking forward to seeing this kid grow up,'' Cohen said.

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in Valley edition only) Annette Worthen, who donated a kidney for her son Dylan, cradles the 13-month-old Thursday at Cedars-Sinai.

(2 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Dylan Worthen, 13 months, gets ready to leave the hospital Thursday with parents Annette and Ron Worthen of Saugus.

(3 -- ran in SAC edition only) Dylan Worthen is all smiles Thursday, thanks to a kidney donated by his mother, Annette Worthen, and transplanted at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles last week.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer