“Can my son survive on one kidney?”

A person can live quite a long and normal life with one kidney. As long as the unaffected size is normal and growing at a more rapid rate than normal, your son should do fine. You need to have a conversation with your primary doctor and your nephrologist to get a more accurate picture of the kidney that is not affected.

1 In 800 to 1000 people walking on the street are with one kidney and they do not even know it

Sure, if the other kidney compensates

Yes.

Sorry to hear about your son's chronic kidney disease. Renal transplantation is the therapy of choice for end-stage chronic kidney disease. Pre-emptive transplantation would be preferable. If no kidney is available, there is peritoneal dialysis and haemodialysis available for children in most countries. The treatment should be considered a bridging therapy until a transplant becomes available. Peritoneal dialysis may provide more gentle, continuous treatment, but parents have to perform this treatment at home, and there is a risk for infections (peritonitis and exit-site infections). For this, a peritoneal dialysis catheter should be surgically placed into the abdominal cavity, preferably as a swan-neck catheter with two cuffs. For haemodialysis, vascular access is required. Home haemodialysis is not widely available, but provides excellent clearance if done daily, for instance, as slow overnight treatment. In centre haemodialysis is often restricted to thrice weekly and demanding, because all the fluid has to be removed in a short time period. You need to speak with your local paediatric nephrologist to discuss the options. Survival for many years on both dialysis options have been reported in children and adolescents. If no dialysis or transplantation is offered and the chronic kidney disease becomes end-stage, chances for survival are guarded.