Kolkata: A police officer from Jharkhand donated 410g of his liver, giving a new lease of life to his eight-year-old daughter, battling with a rare genetic liver disease, at a private hospital off EM Bypass. Instead of looking for a donor, the officer decided to donate the left lobe of his liver to his daughter.A 14-hour-long liver transplant saved the child and post surgery, the father-daughter duo returned home but they are under medical supervision. The surgery was conducted on Sept 28 but the child was discharged on Oct 16.The girl, had been diagnosed with “end-stage liver disease” that resulted from progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 3, a rare inherited condition, said doctors.With her bilirubin level rising to 20mg/dl, doctors suggested that the child could be saved only with the help of a liver transplant.The child’s father recounted that over the past one year and a half, his daughter had faced several health problems like high jaundice, swollen abdomen, severe itching, vomiting, poor appetite and stunted growth.Repeated abdominal fluid discharge led the child’s parents to Kolkata where they admitted her to Narayana RN Tagore Hospital, Mukundapur.“She will require lifelong follow-ups and medication to protect her new liver, but her disease has been treated at its root,” Bappaditya Har, senior consultant – gastrointestinal oncology, liver transplantation & hepatobiliary surgery.“In a child, the vessels and bile ducts we join are very small. Every stitch demands precision, and there is little room for error,” said Rahul Roy, consultant – surgical gastroenterology, liver transplantation & hepatobiliary surgery.
About The Author
