7-Yr-Old Labeled 'Super Human' After 5 New Organs in Single Surgery
We often hear stories about how becoming an organ donor can save lives. But we rarely see as dramatic an example as that of Leicester, United Kingdom, resident Jay Crouch.
Seven-year-old Jay hasn’t enjoyed an easy life. Merely six weeks after his birth, he suffered from a condition that caused his small intestine to twist and die.
“He suddenly went floppy and lifeless and was vomiting bile,” his mother, Katie Freestone, told The Mirror. “After quite a few hours, he ended up having a cardiac arrest and was fighting for his life. …
“They still didn’t know what was wrong with him, so they did some exploratory surgery and discovered the small intestine had died. He was then placed on parenteral nutrition feeding into his veins, unable to eat or drink.”
Not only did Jay suffer from kidney damage during the initial episode, he has been unable to subsist on solid food for basically his entire life.
In fact, he’s had to be fed through a tube in his stomach — at least until this year.
Freestone received notice that physicians had an organ donor who could help Jay, and this was not just any donor. The 28-year-old mother learned that a connected block of five organs — a pair of kidneys, a liver, a pancreas, and a small intestine — were available for transplant.
“My first thought when I got the phone call to say the organs were available, it was initially of sadness for the family who has lost someone at this time,” Crouch explained to South West News Service. “It’s all wonderful for us, but in all of it, there’s quite a lot of sadness.”
Still, the loss of one life meant the restoration of Jay’s existence. In fact, that connected chain of organs gave him a much better chance for a healthy future.
Physicians were able to attach the organ block to Jay’s arteries using only six connections.
“It’s incredibly rare for this many organs to be successfully transplanted at once and shows the difference that organ donors make to the lives of others,” Dr. Khalid Sharif, head of transplantation at Birmingham children’s hospital, said to The Guardian.
Rare, indeed, and the surgery’s success has propelled Jay into the history books. He’s the first child to undergo a simultaneous five-organ transplant.
A month after the procedure, Jay was even able to return home. He has celebrated his newfound lease on life in a very appropriate way: by eating his first slice of buttered toast.
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