‘I can’t wait until Charlie sees himself looking like a normal child at last..’ Mother’s relief as son gets life-saving liver transplant

THE mother of a nine-year-old boy who had a life-saving liver transplant in London said she can’t wait for her son to see himself in the mirror.

Charlie Lynch has been in the UK waiting for an organ to become available and just a week ago his mum Helen said “he could not afford to wait any longer”.

But he is now sitting up smiling in his bed in King’s College Hospital in London after a successful surgery.

Charlie, from Tullamore, Co Offaly, was born with a rare disease and his new liver will give him a chance at a normal life.

Speaking a day after the operation on March 25, Helen said: “Today I seen my son for the very first time in his nine years of life without his extended belly and his yellow skin.

“I cried my eyes out, long have we waited for this day.

“I can’t wait until he wakes up and sees himself. It is all he’s ever wanted – to be a normal kid and now he can.

“I thought my son was going to die for so long and today I was able to finally turn off my phone after four years of it never being turned off.

“I also was able to go to sleep knowing my son will be there when I wake up and not having to worry about that is worth everything.”

Helen also urged others to register as an organ donor, adding: “I have yet to shake the hand of the donor family but I know when I do I’ll cry because they have given my child his life back. It is a gift I’ll be for ever grateful for.”

Helen also hailed the support her family had throughout Ireland, Wales and England, saying it had been “overwhelming”.

This is Organ Donor Awareness Week and the HSE revealed last year there was a record-breaking 311 transplants from 99 deceased donations, up of 11% on 2016.

Kidney transplant from deceased donation increased to 141 with 51 living donor kidney transplants undertaken at the National Renal Transplant Centre in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital.

I was able to sleep knowing he would be there when I woke

MUM HELEN