Pittsburgh — Colin McStay, a two-year-old Irish boy who underwent a liver transplant earlier this week, wanted toast and jam on Friday and was watching a game show on TV, his parents said.
Colin, the first patient to receive a liver transplant in Ireland, is in a critical but stable condition in the intensive care unit at the children's hospital, hospital officials said.
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Hospital spokesman Richard Leibling said the child's condition was normal for a transplant patient and that if all went well he could be discharged from the ICU by the middle of next week.
Colin's parents, Leonard and Margaret McStay, of Dublin, met with reporters after Colin's lunch and said their son's recovery was going well as expected following the nine-hour operation which finished in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
“He's happy,” Mrs McStay said, “not running around on the hospital floor” but sitting in bed and recovering.
Colin had jelly for lunch, but Mrs McStay said he wanted something more. “He's had toast and jam,” she said. “He's been watching game shows on TV – he loves them.”
“His favorite show is 'Family Feud,'” Colin's father said.
Kids also love food commercials, “especially the ones with food in them, especially Cheerios,” McStay said.
The McStays have been in Pittsburgh since April, but they're in no rush to return home. “When you're here with a purpose, you don't get homesick,” McStay says.
Colin captured the hearts of the nation, who raised nearly $1 million to help him receive life-saving surgery.
He has a rare enzyme deficiency that leads to irreversible cirrhosis of the liver and was diagnosed a year ago with the disease, given that he has two years to live without a transplant.
McStay said whatever happens now will be a positive, given the unfavorable circumstances for Collin and the long journey to get the surgery. “We have to be happy with whatever happens now,” he said.
It will be several months before we know if Colin's transplant is successful.
