Full circle: Transplant recipient returns as a transplant nurse
Laurie Lukianov has a more extensive medical history than most people would accumulate in several lifetimes. She spent most of her childhood in a hospital, and remarkably, that’s where the 26-year-old nursing student wants to spend her career.
“There is no question in my mind,” she says. “Since I was 3 years old, I wanted to be a nurse.”
Born with biliary atresia—a life-threatening liver condition in which the bile duct to the small intestine becomes blocked—Laurie underwent two liver transplants by age 13. Due to her long history of health problems, Laurie has had to overcome more obstacles than ...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - June 10, 2015 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Emily Williams Tags: Our patients’ stories liver failure Liver transplant living donor Pediatric Transplant Center (PTC) Source Type: news
Newborn baby in need of life-saving transplant is saved by mother's twin sister who donated part of her own liver to save her tiny niece
Star Reader underwent a liver transplant taken from her aunt Shanell's organ in November after being diagnosed with Biliary Atresia within days of being born in Barnsley, West Yorkshire. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - April 5, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Infant leaves UCLA’s Mattel hospital for home with a transplanted heart
Staff at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA witnessed a happy ending today instead of what could have easily been a tragic one when they bid farewell to five-week-old Drayvn Johnson, who went home with his mother, Nicole Eggleston, and two older brothers after becoming the hospital’s second youngest heart transplant recipient. He was only 23 days old when he received his new heart, which was the size of a strawberry.
“All of our heart transplant patients are special, but I think this one was special because we knew there was a risk we might not find a donor in time,” said Dr. Juan Alejos, professor of pediatric cardi...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - March 11, 2015 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Baby with rare condition that made milk shoot out of her NOSE is cured
Georgie Yorke, eight months, from Consett, County Durham, was born with birth defect oesophageal atresia, meaning her feeding tube was not connected to her stomach. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - March 2, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Baby Everly blossoms after esophageal atresia surgery
Baby Everly, born weighing a fragile 4 pounds 2 ounces, was diagnosed with the rare birth defect called long gap esophageal atresia (EA)—a condition where part of her esophagus, the tube connecting her mouth to her stomach, was missing.
In need of specialized pediatric care for their daughter, Everly’s parents brought her to Boston Children’s Hospital where Russell “Rusty” Jennings, MD, co-director of the hospital’s Esophageal Advanced Treatment Center, and a team of clinicians successfully repaired her esophagus.
Today, baby Everly is hitting all of her milestones—eating solid foods, crawling and just recent...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - January 16, 2015 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Maureen McCarthy Tags: Our patients’ stories Source Type: news
Young mother Rachel Gage vows to give daughter her liver after rare disease
Rachel Gage, 25, from Darlington, has promised to do whatever it takes to save her 11-week-old baby after she was diagnosed with the rare liver disease biliary atresia. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - January 11, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Why Boosting My Son's Immune System Is the Most Important Thing in the World
(Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post)
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - October 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Poop Color Screening Could Prevent Deaths, Avert Liver Transplants and Lower Treatment Costs in Babies with Rare Liver Disease - 10/27/14
Paying attention to the color of a newborn’s poop can mean the difference between life and death for babies with the rare liver disorder biliary atresia — the leading cause of liver transplants in children. (Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine News)
Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine News - October 27, 2014 Category: Research Source Type: news
The Importance of Patient Advocacy and Family Care
By Kerry Sheeran, author of The Marathon, a novel based on the true, emotional journey of a mother and father forced to face their daughter’s life-threatening medical crisis.
Having held my daughter Emma’s hand through eight major surgeries, I consider myself well-versed in what it means to be a patient advocate. All parents are advocates for their children to a degree. From trying to feed them the right foods to connecting with their teachers, helping kids find their way in the world requires a lot of guidance and support from mom and dad.
But when your child has a medical crisis, advocacy takes on a whole new ...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - August 7, 2014 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Guest Blogger Tags: All posts our patients' stories patient advocacy Source Type: news
What Causes Abdominal Distention?
Discussion
Constipation generally is defined as infrequent or painful defecation. It often is due to passing large hard stool infrequently which causes painful defecation and then withholding behaviors. As stool withholding continues, the rectum dilates and gradually accommodates with the normal defecation urge disappearing. Chronic rectal distension results in both loss of rectal sensitivity, and loss of urge to defecate, which can lead to encopresis. Abdominal distention because of stool retention occurs frequently. Treatment includes colonic evacuation, establishing regular bowel habits, eating a balanced diet with diet...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - July 21, 2014 Category: Pediatrics Authors: pediatriceducationmin Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news
The power of a mother’s love: Kenny and Nancy’s story
Kenny and his mother have a lot in common, like their shared sense of humor or their mutual love of shopping. While every mother and son relationship is special, Kenny and his mom share a bond that is very unique—the kind of connection that’s only truly understood by a small group of people.
An early start on life
Kenny was born six weeks premature in 1992 to proud first-time parents Nancy and Kevin Hadley. Like any new parents, Nancy and Kevin were nervous—there’s so much to learn in those first few weeks and no one to teach you. The fact that Kenny was a tiny preemie just added to their uncertainty. Then...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - May 9, 2014 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tripp Underwood Tags: All posts Liver transplant our patients' stories Pediatric Transplant Center (PTC) Source Type: news
Steroids after surgery do not help infants with rare liver disease
In biliary atresia, inflammation leads to blockage of the large bile ducts. (Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH) News Releases)
Source: National Institutes of Health (NIH) News Releases - May 5, 2014 Category: American Health Source Type: news
Steroids after surgery do not help infants with rare liver disease
Infants with biliary atresia -- a rare liver disease -- did not benefit from corticosteroid treatment after bile duct surgery and could face more harm, according to a new study. In biliary atresia, inflammation leads to blockage of the large bile ducts. Bile becomes trapped, causing damage to the liver and leading to scarring, loss of liver tissue and liver failure. Most infants with this serious disease require bile duct surgery and may later need a liver transplant. Worldwide, biliary atresia is the most common reason for liver transplantation in children. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - May 4, 2014 Category: Science Source Type: news
The Color of Poop: Stool Guide, Mobile App to Speed Up Diagnoses of Life-Threatening Liver Condition in Newborns - 4/16/14
Fecal color and consistency are well-known markers of digestive health in both children and adults, but paying attention to a newborn’s shade of poop can be a decided lifesaver in babies born with the rare, liver-ravaging disorder biliary atresia, commonly heralded by white or clay-colored stool. (Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine News)
Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine News - April 16, 2014 Category: Research Source Type: news
Call for changes to infant organ donation guidelines
Conclusion
This study from Great Ormond Street Hospital has found that over half of the infants who died were potential infant organ donors.
It is important to note that this is likely to be an overestimate as not all the information needed to assess whether an infant could be a donor was available, and the number of families who might have consented is impossible to know.
For some of these infants to become donors, guidelines would need to be changed and for all of them, systems would need to be put in place to facilitate transplantation after an infant’s heart stopped beating.
A new source of potential donation organs...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 18, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Medical practice Source Type: news
