A devoted mother risked her life to receive a double organ donation for her four-year-old son.
Sarah Lamont, from Ballymena, Northern Ireland, recently donated one of her kidneys to her young son Joe, and a few months later surgeons also removed part of her liver.
Before Joe reached his first birthday, he was diagnosed with two aggressive organ diseases: polycystic kidney disease and congenital hypocapsular fibrosis, a type of liver disease. Doctors feared she wouldn't survive because Joe's kidneys were so enlarged that they were compressing her entire abdomen and compressing her lungs.
As a result, the boy's kidneys were removed a few days after he was born, and he has been on dialysis ever since.
Concerned that her son was “losing a big part of his life,” the selfless mother took matters into her own hands and chose to donate his organs.
“We were waiting for the phone call to come, but it never came,” she said. barcroft tv.
“Then I thought, 'If I can donate a lobe of my liver and Joe can donate a kidney, why can't I donate both?'”
“I'm so happy that I was able to help my son. It feels great.”
In January 2017, Lamont donated a lobe of his liver and received a kidney transplant just seven months later.
For the transplant, Joe was admitted to Birmingham Children's Hospital and his mother was taken to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
During the surgery, surgeons removed Lamont's kidney, which was then taken by ambulance four miles to a surgeon who prepared it for transplant into Joe.
Now, several months into his recovery, Joe is said to be the healthiest he's ever been and has even been encouraged to go swimming for the first time.
And while Lamont may be on medication for the rest of his life, he says his quality of life has improved 100 percent.
“I'm really glad I was able to play in the game, because I think if he hadn't played, something would have happened. He could have died.
“Joe is doing amazingly well. He has grown so much and has so much energy now. You wouldn't recognize him.”
