Q: My son is now 2.5 years old. He was detected with a tumour in his right kidney and underwent surgery when he was 6 months old and the same was removed. The doctor informed us that it was cancer and was at the 1st stage. He then underwent chemotherapy which was completed in July 2002. Now a bi-monthly checkup is done like blood, urine test etc. Everything is normal. I would like to know what special care I should take now as he has only one kidney and can he do all the activities which normal children do?

A:You have not told me the type of his kidney tumor. However I learn from the details you provide that it has been taken care of. 1 in 5000 people have only one kidney by birth and they live as normally as anyone else. One kidney is sufficient for a person to carry on his/her activities normally. Your son can do all the activities like other normal children. No specific special precautions are required. He obviously needs to get himself regularly checked for looking at any recurrence of tumor as advised by his treating doctor.