Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital hosts the first ever meeting of organ donors and recipients in Utah’s First Pediatric Liver Exchange/Transplant.
Families and caregivers at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake City are celebrating Utah’s medical breakthrough – Utah’s state’s very first pediatric liver and paired exchange transplant. This helped to save two children’s lives.
These families met for the first meeting on Friday following this historical medical event.
Zach Kastenberg MD, Director of Pediatric Surgical Oncology, Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, said: “It’s amazing to see the two families meeting for the first and witnessing the impact of their generosity.” The joy of seeing these children thrive, despite their previous struggles, is a great reward for the caregivers in this hospital.
Elie’s parents from St. George, Utah discovered that she has biliary atresia. This rare liver condition causes the bile to block the ducts, causing a dangerous buildup in the organ. Justin Tibbs, her father, offered to donate a part of his own liver but it turned out that the organ was too large for Elie.
Marissa Kauffman, 15, was also being treated at the time for primary sclerosing (PSC), an uncommon liver condition in which a hyperactive immune system inflames and attacks bile drains, causing scarring and a back-up.
Annie, Kauffman’s neighbor was happy to donate a part of the liver. However, doctors were disappointed that it was not as large as they had hoped.
Caretakers at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, a nationally-ranked pediatric transplant program developed a novel alternative to address this situation: the paired exchange.
Justin gave a small part of his own liver to Marissa, while he donated a larger part of Annie’s to Elie. Both children have healthy outlooks and are now thriving.
Tibbs said, “I felt disappointed to learn that I would not be able donate blood to my own daughter. But when I learned another girl needed help, I did not hesitate to offer it because I understand how difficult it is to worry about the future of your child.” Today was amazing because I met the donor that saved our daughter’s life.
Marissa’s mom, Tara, said that her daughter is regaining her life after the transplant.
Tara said, “She is already back to kicking the soccer ball again and will be driving soon on her own.” I’m just blown away by Annie and Justin for giving these children a second chance. The kids could have told me “no”, and I’d have understood, but they did not.”
Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital’s pediatric liver transplantation program performs 15 to 20 transplants per year. The recipients of this program have an incredibly high 90 percent survival rate after ten years, making them one of the most successful in the country.
Click here for more information about the pediatric transplantation program at Intermountain Primary Children.
Intermountain Health
The company is headquartered in Utah, with additional locations across the Western U.S. Intermountain Health Select Health, with over one million members and a division of Select Health, is an independent nonprofit health system that includes 33 hospitals and 400 clinics. It also offers other services. Intermountain’s mission is to help people lead the healthiest possible lives. It is recognized for its leadership in healthcare transformation by applying evidence-based practices that consistently produce high-quality results at affordable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://news.intermountainhealth.org/.
