SENNETT - Aaron Weed-Gagne is not as healthy as he appears. He is in final-state renal failure, and his family hopes he gets a kidney transplant by the end of the year.

“People are surprised. He does look very well ever since he started dialysis. His doctors are very pleased,” said Aaron's mother, Lisa Gagne, of Auburn.

Saturday afternoon at the Sennett Fire Hall, a fundraiser was held to help out with Aaron's substantial medical bills, expenses that include $300 a month for just one of the nine medications and shots he takes on a regular basis.

This event was coordinated by Aaron's father, Joel Weed. It featured a medieval theme, complete with armored combat, Elizabethan garb and the playing of traditional instruments from the 1600s.

Nancy Newkirk, a friend of Weed's, heard that Aaron was a fan of the Sterling Renaissance Faire held each summer near Lake Ontario in northern Cayuga County. She asked a few friends if they wanted to make Aaron “king for a day” and they began organizing Saturday's event a few months ago.

“I always loved the Ren Fair. We pay to get in and we just support the characters. And we're completely in garb, which is all hand-done,” said Newkirk, a member of the Auburn based Canton of Angels Keep, which is part of the Barony of Delftwood, a group dedicated to the Renaissance era.

Aaron was certainly having fun amidst the knights and ladies. There were lots of other children at the event, including Aaron's 7-year-old sister, Andrea.

In September, doctors determined that Aaron would have to begin dialysis treatment to remove toxins from his blood, toxins that would normally be removed by fully-functioning kidneys and excreted from his body.

“It was obvious prior to the treatments that he looked sick,” Weed said. “Aaron's coloring was poor, he was often fatigued, his appetite was weak.”

His parents first learned of Aaron's kidney problem when they took him in for a school physical in 2003. He's been seeing a kidney specialist since that time.

“He was doing good for a while and then this past October his doctor said he had to start dialysis and that he would need a transplant sooner than expected,” Gagne said. “It was a big slap in the face. Originally, they expected middle school or high school for Aaron needing a transplant and that dialysis could wait. But his kidneys just couldn't take it anymore.”

Aaron was born with a deformed connection from his kidney to his bladder. In 2005, he had his first surgery to fix the problem. A stent was used to shorten the connection and to keep it inflated and then reconnected.

This winter, he had his second surgery as a catheter was put in his abdomen for the dialysis treatments.

His dialysis is done at home - 10 hours a day, every day. In the event of a malfunction with the unit, Aaron would be brought to the dialysis center in Auburn or to a facility in Syracuse.

“It's kinda tough, we have our tough times. But he's been on his dialysis since February and he's doing remarkably well right now,” Gagne said.

Most of the time, his mother connects Aaron to the dialysis machine. Gagne earned her LPN degree from Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES. Her husband, Luther, and her brother-in-law, Bernhard “Bear” Gagne, are trained, as well. Originally from the Hannibal area, Bear moved up from Oklahoma to help Aaron with his treatment. Luther works as a process technician at Tessy Plastics.

“They get along great. He dropped everything, quit his job, when he moved up here to help out,” Gagne said.

While Aaron is hooked up to his dialysis machine nearly half the day, he doesn't dwell on his troubles.

“I do it at home every night and I get unhooked in the morning,” he said matter-of-factly.

Aaron will be in fourth grade next fall, and says his best subjects are spelling, math and gym.

After the transplant surgery, though, Aaron is expected to lead a normal life, his new kidney growing with him. And as for the difficulty some much-older patients have in being fortunate enough to receive a donor kidney, Aaron's doctors have told the family that it is easier for a child his age to receive a kidney.

“It's been very hard. Very, very hard,” Gagne said. “And I think it's been worse on the adults than it has for him. Because he's just a normal, typical kid. Now, Aaron calls the dialysis an ‘inconvenience' because he's out of school right now.”