She was desperate to save her baby 😰

Watch She was desperate to save her baby 😰 - Clara Violet on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00He's my son. Of course I'm going to do anything I can to save his life.

00:04Our son Luca was born in November of 2023. He was seemingly healthy. It wasn't until

00:10the week following where his bilirubin levels were higher than they should have been. So

00:15they started him on UV light therapy. Unfortunately, it didn't work and they

00:19had to call in a specialist. They ran many tests and after he was diagnosed with

00:24biliary atresia, a rare liver disease where the bile ducts are not working and end up with a

00:30liver disease. And eventually they desperately searched for ways to save their baby. The first

00:35thing they did was called a Kassai procedure where they open up his tummy and they try to hook up the

00:41small intestine as like a replacement for the bile ducts. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

00:47And in Luca's case, within a month, we knew that it was a fail. Their only hope was a transplant and

00:53little did she know she'll have to step up to save her baby. The day he was listed for transplant,

00:57my husband and I both did the assessment online. My husband's came back saying that he could not be

01:02the donor based on his liver size. His sister also flew in from Texas and did the whole workup to see

01:08if she was a match. Even if hers could have worked, the stakes were too high and they had to search for

01:12other options. Based on mine, I was small enough that my liver could potentially fit in his little

01:18body. I just had to do a lot more tests. I was scared. I didn't know it was going to be me because

01:24I was so freshly postpartum. I didn't know if they would let me. So it truly was a miracle that I could

01:29do that for him. But with her baby being so small, the transplant would be risky, which demanded careful

01:33preparation for the both of them. When you have liver disease, a lot of things in your body goes

01:38wrong. We had to get constant labs to make sure he was doing okay. He was extremely well-nourished.

01:43He had to get a feeding tube because when your liver isn't working, you can't absorb calories.

01:48And then eventually a PICC line, which was giving him constant vitamins and nutrients. That was the

01:54only thing that kept him somewhat growing as big as he could get before he got the liver transplant.

02:00It took a couple months worth of just getting everything scheduled because they want to make

02:05sure that I'm healthy and I'm safe enough to go through a surgery like that as well.

02:09After seven months of desperately waiting, they finally got some good news.

02:14I officially donated my liver. I was in surgery for around six hours. Luca was in surgery for

02:19around eight hours and everything went pretty well.

02:23Forty days later, they both walked out of the hospital healthier than ever.

02:26It is amazing to watch him grow and hit his milestones and laugh and play and do things that

02:34all little boys should be able to do. His recovery is going well. This is something that we'll have

02:39to keep track of throughout his life with blood draws. They can see how his liver is doing. He does

02:44have to be on anti-rejection medicine for the rest of his life. So that can have long-term consequences,

02:51but he is alive. So we are just very grateful. Truly, it is a miracle and we are bonded forever.