Fortunately the organs which were gifted were a match, the donor child was only 10yrs old Aaron being small and only 3 yrs old the donated liver needed to be cut-down to size, and so Aaron got his new liver and small bowel.
Immediately his colour changed back to pinkish the yellow jaundice gone!
He began to eat properly as soon as he was able and became IV free just 2 weeks post-transplant breaking the time record at that time!It was absolutely amazing,we never ever thought we'd see the day!

During 2001 he developed cancer,a form of B-cell lymphoma of his duodenum caused by a combination of EBV (Epstein Barr virus) and the immunosuppression medication he takes,called PTLD (Post transplant lymphoproliferative disorder) which was successfully treated and at time of writing, he is still completely clear of!

Small bowel transplantation is still a relatively new concept and is still very much on a learning curve at present in the UK around 33 small bowel transplants have taken place at Birmingham Childrens' Hospital(the only centre in the UK to perform paediatric small bowel transplants), the survival rate will be somewhere around 50%-60% but with every day the odds are increasing! In the USA for a few years now they have been able to perform living related small bowel transplants!

Aaron's now 11yrs old,he no longer has any "tummy bits" no gastrostomy and no ileostomywhich has made his quality of life so much better,he's gained much more confidence.

He is leading a wonderful “normal” life,our paranoia about "protecting" him has gone and Aaron's free to live his life,he has to be one if not the filthiest kids on our street! He can eat for Scotland, he loves his veggies funnily enough! He’s doing well at school,he is such a typical wee lad and has such a strong out going personality, without which I’m sure he wouldn’t have made it through these past years!

He is such a wee battler and even though he can drive us demented at times he is forever an inspiration to us all.

I’d like to take this opportunity to say a huge big THANK YOU to Aaron’s donor family whom without their generous and selfless act on the untimely death of their son…. Aaron would not be here with us today to enjoy this wonderous world of beauty and adventure….

Catriona (Aaron’s proud mum)

Update 2007.. Aaron goes snowboarding in Swiss Alps,he's mad on mountain biking tearing downhill you can hear him squeal with excitement, he plays basketball and football!
He has competed in our British Transplant Games 4 times now and brought back 2 bronze & 2 silver medals!

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Anyone finding themselves in a similar situation,or wishing to make contact for any reason please feel free to mail me...info@transplantkids.co.uk

IF YOU HAVEN'T REGISTERED AS AN ORGAN DONOR..

YOU CAN CALL 0800 60 60 40 OR VIA THE UK TRANSPLANT WEBSITE WWW.UKTRANSPLANT.ORG.UK

LIVE LIFE THEN GIVE LIFE!