'Normal': Great word

When Diane McFarlin was pregnant with her fourth child, she and her husband, Scott, got some unhappy news: Their child had polycystic kidney disease. An ultrasound in June 2000 revealed many cysts in the baby's kidneys, and the McFarlins were told he would not live long after birth.

Diane's high blood pressure made doctors induce labor in mid-July, one month before her son's due date. "He looked so healthy," said Diane after seeing Mark briefly before he was taken to the neonatal ICU. But he wasn't healthy.

He was transferred to Sutter hospital, where a team of pediatric cardiologists performed open heart surgery when he was 6 days old.

When he was 6 weeks old, the McFarlins took Mark home. But doctor visits every two weeks revealed that he had mild cerebral palsy and needed therapy. At 5 months old, Mark had to be fitted for tiny glasses. At 1, he had eye surgery and also needed a feeding tube to increase his weight.

At about the same time, the nephrologist did a biopsy of his kidneys.

"They should have failed by this time and dialysis should have been part of our routine, but this had not yet happened," Diane said. "A week after the biopsy, we received a letter from the doctor: "Lab work NORMAL; is amazing and great (still don't understand why the kidneys look the way they do, but as long as they work, who cares?)"

"Yes, miracles really do happen," Diane said.

Today, Mark is an active fifth-grader who loves the San Francisco Giants, follows the weather channel closely and is "a great joy to our family," Diane said.