Liver transplant ended 10 months of heartbreak for family

A brave tot given just months to live has been saved after a liver transplant from her aunt.

Little Eimile Friel was born with a potentially deadly bile duct defect 10 months ago.

Her parents, Sharon, 42, and Paul, 43, were warned she would need a new liver before her first birthday or she would die.

Several members of the family volunteered to be transplant donors, but Eimile’s 52-year-old aunt Sheena was tested first and found to be the perfect match.

The pair underwent major surgery at St James’s Hospital in Leeds and Leeds General Infirmary in September.

And now both are well on the road to recovery, with baby Eimile returning home to Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, on Friday.

The happy news comes three years after Sharon and Paul lost a baby 23 weeks into the pregnancy.

Sharon’s big sister, Sheena McQueer, an engineering factory worker from Cambuslang, said: “I had seen Eimile suffer so much pain and watched Sharon and Paul driven to the edge.

“I just needed to give her a chance to live and grow up to be a normal happy toddler.”

Eimile was born by elective caesarean in Wishaw General in January after Sharon developed pregnancy-related diabetes. But, moments after she was delivered, the tot began struggling to breathe and she was rushed to intensive care.

She rallied after a few days but then became severely jaundiced.

At just two weeks old Eimile was transferred to Yorkhill in Glasgow where liver tests pointed to the potentially fatal disease, biliary atresia.

Only one in 8,000 to 15,000 children are affected and need care at specialist units. The nearest one was 212 miles away at Leeds General Hospital.

“Eimile was so sick by the time she was just four weeks old that she had to be transferred with a team of paediatric doctors in an aeroplane,” Sharon recalled.

“There was no room on board so Paul and I had to wave her off in tears. I prayed so hard that she would survive the journey.”

Sharon and Paul travelled to Leeds by train and were reunited with their baby in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

To their great relief, a charity, the Sick Children’s Trust, provided them with a flat to stay in opposite the hospital.

Although Paul was given compassionate leave, Sharon had to quit her job as a care assistant to keep a vigil at Eimile’s bedside.

The next few weeks were a roller coaster of hope, joy and despair.

After examining Eimile, doctors diagnosed a blocked bile duct but surgery to clear it failed. The next weapon in their armoury was drug therapy to be followed by a liver transplant.

Eimile was allowed home until a match became available. But, just hours before she was due to be discharged she developed a blocked bowel which only emergency surgery could fix.

At four months old Eimile faced her second major operation, but it was a success 11 weeks later she was allowed home.

“We’d only been home days when more problems arose and it was decided to transfer her back to Leeds,” Sharon said.

“In July it was obvious only a transplant would save her. My older sister, Sheena, stepped forward and said, ‘Test me first’.

“Six other family members also volunteered but Sheena was a perfect match.”

Tests found mum-of-two Sheena had several vital genetic similarities to Eimile.

With the support of husband Ian, 53, and daughters, Suzanne and Laura, she underwent four hours of surgery at St James’s Hospital to remove a baby-sized piece of her liver around 20%.

It was packed in ice and driven 10 minutes by taxi to Leeds General Infirmary where Eimile was in the operating theatre.

The operation to place the liver in her tiny body took seven-and-a-half hours.

“Sharon and Paul were in touch with Ian, who was waiting outside the operating theatre for me to come out,” Sheena explained. “I can only imagine how nerve-racking it must have been.”

Sheena recovered quickly, with just one day in high-dependency, and was home within a week. Eimile struggled through some minor setbacks, but the transplant was pronounced a success 10 days later.

The hospital’s medical team finally gave the tot the green light to return home last week. And on Friday the family bid a tearful goodbye to the doctors and nurses who saved Eimile.

“We owe them all so much,” said Sharon. “But, above all, we owe my sister, who put her life on the line to donate part of her liver. I don’t know how we will ever thank her.”

Sheena says she is just happy to have been able to help.

“There’s no greater thanks than seeing Sharon be the mum she always dreamed of being.”

With anti-rejection drugs and steroids, Eimile is now thriving and learning to live a normal life.

For more information about the Sick Children’s Trust visit www.sickchildrenstrust.org