Trish Choate/Times Record News

Polycystic kidney disease is rare, but it's more common than some other
disorders.

More than 600,000 people in the United States, and possibly an estimated 12.5 million people around the world, suffer from PKD, according to the PKD Foundation. The disorder hits more people than the following altogether: cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, sickle cell anemia and Down syndrome.

The form of PKD that Lyndon has, infantile PKD, is passed down randomly from parent to child, according to the PKD Foundation. A child must receive the gene from both mother and father to fall ill.

"There's no background on either side of the family for that disease," Sheri Baty, his mother, said. "That's why it was such a shock to us."

In infantile PKD, small cysts form on both kidneys, according to the PKD Foundation. Over time, the patient loses kidney function. Kidney transplant and dialysis are the only treatments.

Learn more on the Web

Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation: www.pkdcure.org

Southwest Transplant Alliance: www.organ.org

KNOX CITY - Lyndon Baty went to school this month for the first time in his 8 years, joining other second-graders at Knox City Elementary School.

He suffers from a rare kidney disease and has had to shun crowds. Doctors even told his parents he probably wouldn't survive at birth. But he did, and a kidney transplant has changed everything for Lyndon - except his unquenchable spirit.

These days, it's school spirit.

"What I like most is recess," Lyndon said with enthusiasm. "We've been playing kickball and going down slides and stuff ... And sometimes we go to the library, and sometimes we have music."

His mother, Sheri Baty, said he has loved every minute of school since starting March 1. Lyndon logged one full week before spring break and finished his second week Friday.

"That's the first time he's ever been in the actual classroom because his health has been so fragile up until the transplant that he was just not physically able to be in the classroom," Sheri Baty said.

Lyndon might have a pair of watchful eyes on him at school. His father, Louis Baty, is superintendent of Knox City Independent School District.

"He's very excited about school and being able to be around other kids," Louis Baty said.

Lyndon was born six weeks prematurely with infantile polycystic kidney disease, his mother said.

"You could look at him and tell something was wrong because his abdomen was so huge," Sheri said. "It's such a rare disease that doctors don't usually see this, and babies usually pass away quickly."

In PKD, cysts form on kidneys, and eventually the kidneys fail, according to the PKD Foundation. When the kidneys fail depends on the patient. Infantile PKD often kills in the first month of life.

Luckily, Lyndon's doctor diagnosed the disease 12 hours after he was born.

His health has been a struggle, but Lyndon has been up to it.

"He's always has a very good attitude," Louis Baty said.

What's more, his parents made sure to tell him about treatments before he received them so the boy could prepare himself, Louis Baty said. Of children with infantile PKD who survive, about one-third will have to have dialysis or a transplant by 10.

In 2001, Lyndon began receiving dialysis treatments. But the Batys kept the faith.

"You have to know that God has a plan, and it's out of your hands," Sheri Baty said. "You just take your kids and love them just how they are and enjoy every minute you have with them."

And wonderful family, friends and community form a strong support system for the Batys.

Shortly after Lyndon went on dialysis, Baty's Boer Goat Country came to be.

The family began keeping meat goats in July 2001. The idea was to give Lyndon and their other two sons, Sheldon, 5, and Chance, 2, safe fun while they were getting fresh air. The boys romped with the docile goats and kids one day earlier this year.

"I like their horns," Lyndon said.

A kidney transplant July 7 at Children's Medical Center in Dallas gave Lyndon a lot more freedom to romp. He's bursting with energy, too.

"Every room that was messy, I would clean it up," Lyndon said. "They called me Mr. Clean."

After the transplant, going to school with other children was at the top of his to-do list.

Sheri and Louis Baty had concerns about illness, but they wanted their son to experience a normal life. So they sent him to school.

Lyndon hasn't exactly made a lot of new friends in his class. He already had many friends there.

"He's very outgoing and social anyway," Louis said. "So far as the interaction with the kids and the teachers, it's gone real well."

Lyndon's world is still expanding.

"He's going to do basically the things that other 8-year-old kids are doing - other than playing football," Sheri Baty said. "Anything that would cause trauma to the abdomen is his limitation. Other than that, he has a new life ahead of him. He's getting to do things he's never done before."

Not bad for a little boy who wasn't expected to live.

"Here we are eight years later," Sheri Baty said. "He's in school, and he has an incredible past and a more incredible future."