Baby home for Christmas after rare transplant
THE parents of tiny Trinity Walters are preparing for a family Christmas they feared they would never have.
Just eight weeks ago, their baby was on the brink of death as she waited for a liver transplant. [>
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Trinity’s mother and father, Leona and David Walters, even offered to donate a piece of their own livers but unfortunately they were incompatible. [>
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“We watched her getting sicker and sicker,” said Leona. [>
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“We were despairing that a liver would ever be found and then, just as we were resigning ourselves to losing Trinity, a young boy died who was the right match.” [>
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Leona, 28, and 29-year-old David, from Pinxton, Nottinghamshire, were told that it would be impossible for surgeons to take a small enough portion of their livers to donate to Trinity. [>
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David said: “It was frustrating because we had heard about live donation and thought it would be the answer. But we were shocked to be ruled out by doctors. [>
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“We sat by her bed watching her getting sicker and sicker.” [>
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At six weeks old, 5lb 6oz Trinity was one of the youngest babies in the world to have a liver transplant. Surgeon Khalid Sharif, who spent nine hours operating on her, said: “By the time we got the liver into Trinity she was going downhill rapidly. [>
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“Performing liver transplants on babies is rare because with quite a number of liver diseases you can wait until a child is older before doing a transplant. But with Trinity we did not have that option. She had one of the rarer diseases and needed an urgent transplant. [>
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“In the end we took the best match we could for her, but we had to divide the organ several times until we got the right fit. [>
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“Even though it only weighed 30 grams it was still bigger than her own diseased liver.” [>
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The operation on Trinity took twice as long as it would have done on an adult. [>
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Mr Khalid said: “Giving a liver to such a small child is enormously challenging and we have to take our time.” [>
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Trinity, now four months old, spent five weeks in Birmingham Children’s Hospital before coming home at the end of last month. [>
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Doctors say a bonus of having a transplant so young is that organ rejection is less likely, as a baby’s immune system is undeveloped. Even so, Trinity is given 28 anti-rejection drugs a day. [>
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Leona said: “We still can’t believe Trinity is here with us and we are preparing to give her Christmas presents I almost didn’t dare buy. [>
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“She truly is our very own Christmas miracle.” [>
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Almost 3,000 lives are saved annually by organ donation, but there are still 9,000 people in need of a transplant. For more information visit www.uktransplant.org.uk [>