Tiffany Lothian is just eight months old, and she doesn’t know it, but she got a great Christmas gift this year—probably the best one she’ll ever have.
Tiffany was in the hospital, in a coma.
She had been born with jaundice, and her mother suspected that something wasn’t right.
At 19 days old, Tiffany’s breath began to smell strange, so her mother took her to the hospital, thinking she had an infection.
It turned out to be worse. Tiffany was suffering from biliary atresia. This is when the bile ducts in the liver narrow.
Doctors said that her only chance of surviving long term was if she got a transplant.
Luckily, Tiffany had a cousin, Fern Jackson.
“I’d seen her deteriorating before my eyes and it was heartbreaking,” said Fern.
So she got tested to see if she was a match for Tiffany. And she was.
“When they told me that I was a match and could give her part of my liver, I was thrilled,” said Fern.
Fern, who’s 20, became one of the UK’s youngest living donors last month.
“I did get quite a lot of pain after the operation, but it was all worth it to save Tiffany. In no time at all, she had turned a healthy pink color and seeing her now is amazing.”
The transplant saved Tiffany and her family lots of money and time. And Tiffany now has “lots of energy.”
Her mother says, “She will be on medication to stop her rejecting her new liver for the rest of her life, but that’s a small price to pay.”
