Transplant buys Bella precious time
As Perth father Kien-Ping Chung watched his baby daughter dying from a failing liver, he decided out of desperation to donate part of his own liver.
He knew it was not ideal but he had just learnt nine-month-old Bella probably had only a few months left to live without a transplant, after being born with a rare condition causing her bile ducts to malfunction.
But the day after Mr Chung told doctors at Sydney's Westmead Hospital to start preparing him for surgery, he got the phone call that would change Bella's life - a donor liver had been found.
Five months later, and after a roller-coaster of infections and signs of rejection, Bella is now home and thriving. Mr Chung said it had been touch-and-go for Bella, who was born in October last year with jaundice but otherwise seemed happy and healthy.
But a blood test a few months later revealed she had biliary atresia, a life-threatening condition in babies that stops the normal movement of bile which is needed to digest fats and carry toxins out of the body.
The family were advised to travel to Sydney to have Bella assessed for a transplant. Her condition worsened and a transplant was the only option.
"With this new organ we're buying her a lot more time than she had before," Mr Chung said.
Donate Life urges people to sign up as donors to help Australians waiting for transplants. For details, go to donatelife.gov.au.
