A DUNFERMLINE tot who was crowned the Press’ ‘Bonnie Baby’ in January is now believed to be Scotland’s second-youngest dialysis patient after undergoing surgery to remove his right kidney.

Wee Daniel Cornet was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease when he was born three weeks early on 8th August last year and has endured eight nerve-wracking operations in the last 10 months – three in the first month of his life alone.

His kidney function has only ever been at 10 per cent at best and, since November, the brave little fighter has been battling end-stage renal failure.

However, he’s now had a new lease of life after his latest operation last Tuesday – where he had his right kidney removed and a peritoneal dialysis catheter inserted into his tummy – and will now be on dialysis until he can get a transplant in three or four years’ time.

Daniel has previously been so sick, mum Louise Paton (35) and chef dad Nick Cornet (38) wondered “if we would ever get to take him home”.

She said, “We knew there were issues before he was born. My 20-week scan showed he had renal pelvis dilation – or swollen kidneys – which can sometimes resolve itself before birth, but the 30-week scan showed the condition had worsened.

“By 35 weeks, I had no amniotic fluid left due to him having suspected posterior urethral valves (valves not allowing him to pass urine), as well as Grade 4 kidney reflux (Grade 5 is the most serious). After a scan at 36 weeks, it was agreed to deliver him the next week.

“It was really hard. He was taken straight away from us and it was six hours before we got to see him – you wanted to do things like feed him and pick him up but you just couldn’t.

“He’s never looked very ill but he’s always been really sick. The first three months were touch and go and it was just a total waiting game. We asked doctors if we would ever get to take him home – we were always worried he wouldn’t pull through.” Daniel, who spent the first three months of his life at Edinburgh’s Sick Kids Hospital, was “always covered in bruises” because of all the procedures that have been carried out.

He underwent his first surgery at seven-days-old, where doctors created a vesicostomy (bladder stoma) to prevent urine refluxing back into his kidneys.

A week later, he underwent another op to insert catheters into his kidneys through his back and at four weeks had a stent inserted into his kidneys.

He had a gastrostomy and fundoplication in January and then underwent two surgeries in two days in April after an operation to put in a Hickman line was unsuccessful.

Louise recalled, “He just was tiny. Two operations in two days. That was a hard week. But we also know we were lucky enough to take our boy home. We’ve met many parents through our time in Sick Kids that don’t get that chance.” In May, Daniel had his seventh surgery, where stents were put in both kidneys to help drain them and prevent infections.

Last week’s operation was “50/50” and there was the possibility he would not pull through but he did – and started dialysis at the weekend.

Louise beamed, “He looks amazing. He’s a happy wee soul! We’ve noticed the difference in the last two days – he’s put on weight and seems to be back to his happy self and has been sick a lot less because the toxins have come down.

“Mentally, he’s at the right age – he will be a bit slow in walking and he won’t eat anything! – but he’s spending his time getting better and he will catch up. He’s got a really high risk of infection – doctors are quite confident that he will have peritonitis at some point but we’re going to be taught what to look for. We don’t know when we will go home yet – it will be a few weeks. The renal nurses have to come and check out the house and we have to have a garden shed put in for all his medical supplies. The dialysis will keep him stable and he’ll be on it about 10 hours a night until he gets the transplant in about three or four years.” Daniel also has anaemia and bone disease caused by poor kidney function, as well as an unrelated small hole in his heart – although the medics aren’t concerned about this and it should close on its own. Louise admitted that it would be a “long three years” until his transplant, travelling to and from Scotland’s only paediatric dialysis/renal unit in Glasgow, and hospital stays ahead.

As sales rep Louise will soon be Daniel’s full-time carer, friends and family are fund-raising to help the family with travel expenses and getting a car – upcoming events include a car boot sale at Belleknowes industrial estate, Inverkeithing, on Sunday from 7am, and a party night at Valleyfield Club on 18th July at 7.30pm.

She said, “A big thank you to everyone who’s supported us.” Follow Daniel’s progress at https://www.facebook.com/Diaryofakidneykid. Donations are welcome and can be made at http://www.gofundme.com/Danielsdiary.