A 5-week-old baby has saved a woman's life by becoming the youngest ever organ donor.
The baby died of heart failure after suffering an infection and it's little kidney was transplanted into 22-year-old Samira Kauser who was dying of kidney failure.
"Words cannot express the gratitude I feel to the parents of this baby," said Samira, "My life was standing still - now I can live it. They have lost so much more than I can ever comprehend. Their only solace is that someone else has been able to carry on with their life. It is a massive gift."
The operation took an epic seven hours and took place at St James's University Hospital in Leeds in the UK. Surgeon Niaz Ahmad said the health industry was previously reluctant to involve such young children in organ donation but there is a chronic shortage of donors. "For a number of years, there has been a mental block about using such tiny kidneys, a feeling that they would be too small and not work," Dr Ahmad said.
"There was also a cultural thing among surgeons that we had never used this age group, because of the emotional difficulty of asking parents of a young baby if they were willing. But there is such an acute shortage of organs, that we are now prepared to do this, and this case, I hope, shows that it can work."
Kidneys are viable from 37 weeks of pregnancy so despite the small size, can indeed be transplanted and save people's lives.
After the parents made the painful decision to donate their child's kidney's Miss Kauser was informed she'd be receiving a kidney, freeing her from nine hours of dialysis each day. She was born with genetic kidney failure and has suffered her whole life.
She was closely monitored for six months after the transplant and her health has continued to improve. In fact, she is getting married next year. She knew she could never commit to marriage while on dialysis, but now feels like she has her life back and can enjoy a normal life that most people take for granted, complete with excellent health.
She said she still feels sad about the death of the baby who saved her life and often thinks of the parents. "It was 1.48am?…?Then I found out it was a child who had died and I felt so sad. I thought about the parents and how much they wanted to donate and I knew I had to have the operation, even though I was scared."
To become an organ donor you can register at the Australian Organ Donor Register from the age of 16. Around 1600 people are currently on Australian organ transplant waiting lists. Find out more about organ donation here.
Would you be able to make the difficult decision to donate your child's organs?
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