7-month-old Toronto baby with rare liver disease in 'desperate' need of a transplant
A seven-month-old baby is in “desperate” need of a liver transplant in Toronto, but with her parents incompatible and extended family far away in Bangladesh, all she can do is wait for her name to reach the top of the donor list or hope for a living match.
“We have been on the list for almost four months now and the doctor said it is completely uncertain. They say babies are a priority but they will not tell us how many are above us or what our position is. We don't have any idea of how long we will have to wait,” Aliza’s mother Preetha Haque told CTV News Toronto.
Ontario Health says wait times are based on a variety of factors, including blood type, the patient’s health, and organ type. Their data indicates 235 people of all ages in the province are waiting for a liver transplant.
Aliza’s medical team suggested trying to find a living donor, a healthy person who gives a piece of their liver to a patient in need, since it can speed up the search. The University Health Network has completed nearly 900 of these transplants since 2000.
But so far, the potential living donors who have come forward are not a match for Aliza’s O +/- blood type.
“Last week we heard from the hospital. There are no other applicants for Aliza, so we got more upset,” Aliza’s father Moniruzzaman Moni said.
Uncertainty has filled the hearts of Aliza’s parents since she was two months old. She was born with jaundice, a common yellow discoloration among newborns, but blood test results proved Aliza’s condition was far from common.
“The doctor called us back and said visit my office immediately and get prepared, you might need to go to the hospital,” Haque said as she wept, struggling to get words out.
They learned Aliza had Biliary Atresia, a rare liver disease that blocks the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder, and she needed a transplant.
Aliza playing with a toy in her high chair. “We need to look for a donor from outside our family because we don't have any family here and we can’t bring a donor from Bangladesh because it's very expensive,” Haque said after her and Moni learned they were not compatible matches.
After they placed Aliza on the donor list, they returned home, but it wasn’t long before they were back at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. Aliza could not digest food, but when they gave her a feeding tube, her liver was growing too big and supressing her stomach, causing vomiting and dehydration.
Since then, Aliza and Haque have been living at the hospital for more than two months while Moni takes care of their seven-year-old daughter at home. After recovering from contracting RSV, Aliza has reached a stable state with the assistance of daily nutritional IV fluids.
Aliza at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. But time is proving critical. Haque said doctors have told her that Aliza needs the transplant before she reaches the age of two.
“She is almost one-year-old now and the doctor says that she doesn't have liver failure symptoms but if she has any the progress will be too fast to control,” Haque said.
“She is stable now, she grows well, she has enough weight and it’s the right age to support the transplant. This is the perfect time for her to get a transplant. Only if we can manage [finding] the liver.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.