Our baby desperately needs the ‘gift of life’
Parents’ appeal to get donor for four-month-old with liver failure
THE parents of a seriously ill baby aged four months have launched an urgent appeal for a liver donor to save “their little whirlwind”.
Florence-Ivy Langton is in intensive care with end-stage liver failure and desperately needs a transplant.
Her mother Sammy Bromfield and her father Jamie Langton said finding a living donor would be a “gift and debt they could never repay”.
Sammy, 31, added: “She’s spent most of her life in and out of hospital. She’s never given up. So we won’t.”
Florence was born last October and developed problems with her liver.
She was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a bile ducts blockage, at eight weeks old and is being treated at Leeds Children’s Hospital.
Sammy said: “She’d been jaundiced since birth and it never seemed to get better.” Jamie, 29, added: “Everyone had reassured us that it was just normal, she was born at 38 weeks so it would take a little bit longer to get rid of it.”
The parents, who live near Scunthorpe, Lincs, told how a nurse rang in sick when Florence was due for her eight-week injections but they still took her for a GP check. Sammy, also mum to son Tom, said: “I’m really glad we did now. The surgery she went on to have could only be done in the first 100 days to give her a better chance. “If we hadn’t she wouldn’t be here.” Praising her daughter’s character, she added: “She has such a spirit for life, she’s a little whirlwind and she’s sassy.”
In a plea to the public, Jamie said: “The gift Florence needs, to have a chance to live, is a small portion of your liver. If somebody could do that we would be eternally grateful to them.
“The donor operation has a short recovery period and the liver will regenerate.”
The Live Donor Team at Leeds Teaching Hospitals said:
“We sincerely hope a living donor can be found for Florence. There is a real need for living donors as the number of deceased liver donors in the UK does not meet the current demand.”
Visit www.organdonation.nhs.uk.
Florence has never given up. So we won’t
MUM SAMMY ON HER DONOR HUNT FOR TOT