Georgia toddler receives life-saving kidney from late cousin in Children's Healthcare milestone

A milestone at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta is also the story of an extraordinary gift.

On June 3, the hospital's 2,000th organ transplant went to 2-year-old John Miller of Dublin, Georgia.

Long before the toddler took his first steps, his parents, Greer and Chris, knew he would some day likely need a new kidney.

John was born with Hydronephrosis, a condition where urine travels back up into one or both kidneys, causing them to swell. 

He was just four weeks old when he was taken by helicopter to Children's with stage five kidney failure.

"They told us at the Macon hospital that if we would've waited any longer, then he probably would've gone into cardiac arrest," Greer Miller told CBS News Atlanta.

Mrs. Miller told us there were over 100 potential candidates on John's donor list, but the perfect match turned out to be someone close to the family.

"Lance, my cousin, unexpectedly had a motorcycle accident and ended up passing, and it was during the time of his passing when the hospital he was at was asking the immediate family: what do you want to do?" said Chris Miller, "and they elected to let him be an organ donor. My aunt kind of reminded them that John needed a kidney."

Lance Miller passed away May 31.

His family made a decision that would save John's life.

"They lost a son, a father, a husband, you know, everything, and in the worst time of their life they thought of us. They thought of saving our son John," Mr. Miller said. 

Then, another hurdle arose. The match was perfect, but the size was not.

Lance Miller's adult kidney had to fit inside a 2-year-old's body.

The surgery was led by Children's pediatric surgeons Dr. Bhargava Mullapudi and Dr. Richard Hendrickson, who told us they have developed a technique to fit adult organs into the bodies of some of their smallest patients.

"We talked about this with the family and the pre-op evaluation," Dr. Hendrickson said. "The kidney transplant evaluation told them this may be a little too big for him, but Dr. Mullapudi and I have figured out ways in order to mobilize the inside of the retroperitoneal space to make these bigger kidneys fit without having any issues."

He said he plans to present the size analytics at an international panel next year.

"No matter what size the child is, we like to have kidneys a certain size," Dr. Hendrickson said. "We look at the scan or the imaging from the donor, and then we try to assess if we can get that kidney to fit in the young children."

John's surgery marked the milestone of the 2,000th organ transplant at Children's.

For the Miller family, that number comes second to the man who made it possible –– Lance Miller. 

"John being the 2,000th organ on top of it, like how it all happened. I mean, it just makes me want to sit here and tell people how amazing Children's is and just and how important it is to donate your organs if you can," said Greer Miller.

John's parents told us he is doing great post-operation.

"He doesn't know what to do with all this energy," Mrs. Miller said. "We're able to see him talking more. Since he's gotten his kidney, he's just I mean, he's a new kid."

His parents said John will continue intensive follow-up care for the next year before those appointments become less frequent.