A Second Life for Their Child

A Second Life for Their Child

Baby Bade was admitted to hospital when she was only 44 days old. After being diagnosed with Alagille syndrome, she was given a second chance at life at 9 months old with a piece of liver from her mother.

Bade, the first child of Gamze and Kenan Tunalı, was taken to hospital because her jaundice did not go away after birth. Admitted when she was only 44 days old, baby Bade began to develop liver failure because she was born with too few bile ducts. Diagnosed with Alagille syndrome, Bade’s test values rose sharply when she was 9 months old, and her doctors decided that she needed a liver transplant. The teams of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Kılıç, Head of the Liver Transplantation Department at İzmir Kent Hospital, and Op. Dr. Cahit Yılmaz, who found her mother Gamze Tunalı to be a suitable donor, first removed a piece of the mother’s liver. The teams then prepared this piece to fit little Bade’s body and carried out the transplant successfully.

Gamze Tunalı said she is now the happiest mother in the world: “In Alagille syndrome, it turns out that the mother or the father is a carrier. We tried me first. Because I was not a carrier, I was able to give my child my liver. Everything is going very well now. Bade’s test values are improving too. It is a very difficult situation. You don’t know until it happens to you.”

Mrs. Tunalı, who also said that the operation carried risks, said: “In the same year I gave my child life twice. Right now I am the happiest mother in the world.”

SEEN IN ONE IN 100,000 BIRTHS

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Kılıç, Head of the Liver Transplantation Department at İzmir Kent Hospital, explained that in Alagille syndrome the bile ducts are genetically reduced in number or absent altogether: “Progression to liver cirrhosis happened quickly. When Bade came to us, her liver failure had reached a very advanced stage. Without a transplant soon, she could have lost her life. This is a rare disease that we see in one in 100,000 births. Bade is doing well. It has been 20 days since the operation. Now they will be discharged and go home.”

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kılıç said that jaundice is normal in newborn babies, but that it should be investigated if it lasts longer than usual. He added: “The best approach is for every birth to be followed by a paediatrician, and for babies born with no bile ducts or too few of them to be quickly started on treatment and referred for a transplant.”