RVH Liver Support Group

My story began 15 years ago at the age of 11 when I was flown air ambulance with an unknown liver condition to Kings College Hospital in London. I was being flown to wait on a liver transplant due to the severity of my condition. However, when I arrived at Kings I was diagnosed with having auto immune hepatitis. The medical team’s decision was to start me on a course of medication and within days an improvement was very quickly seen.
With such an improvement the decision was taken not to wait on a transplant but to continue with the medication route. For many years I led a normal life doing all the normal things that a teenager does. I was able to attend school and complete a course at university.

During this time I regularly attended outpatients’ appointments and had my medications regularly altered as a result of the blood tests. I sometimes had to go into hospital due to infections, as the medication made me immuno-suppressed. Last year I began to lose a lot of weight and began to feel very tired. I did not think much of it as I was under a lot of stress at the time. However in November last year I started to take infections, and once they had cleared up I would quickly take another.

After being admitted to Ward 6D in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, Dr Callendar and the team ran a lot of tests to see if they could maximise the effectiveness of the medication. These tests showed that my liver was in a very poor state and that the medication was putting pressure on my kidneys.  Over the next few months my condition seriously deteriorated and in April 2008 I was flown to Kings for a liver transplant assessment. After many tests the team in London decided that I was suitable for a transplant and I was sent back to the province to wait on the call. In June I was admitted again to the RVH with another infection and I stayed there for the next four months as I kept taking serious infections. My weight also ballooned as my poor kidney function meant that I retained a lot of fluid. At one point I was only allowed to drink 1 Litre of fluid a day. The caring staff in Ward 6D quickly became a second family to me as my own had to travel on a two hour round trip.

At the start of September my condition became more serious and I was stabilised and flown by Air Ambulance to Kings to wait on a liver transplant. After one week in Kings an organ finally became available and in the early hours of September 18th 2008 I received a non-heart beating liver transplant. After two weeks I was finally flown on a normal commercial flight to Belfast where I stayed on Ward 6D for two weeks. After this medication stabilisation period I was finally allowed home after five months of being in a hospital environment.

So far everything is going really well and I have more energy than I had before. Apart from the odd high potassium level everything for me has been really plain sailing. I am so thankful to the unselfish gift that my donor gave to me, and without them I know that I would not be here today. I also would like to thank the friends that I acquired along the way, who are the hard working staff of Ward 6D and of course Dr Callendar, Dr McDougall and their teams. And finally the staff in Kings and of course my family and friends for their care and support.