Life needing an organ transplant

Filed in archive Cases on August 22, 2005

A couple of stories detailing patients needing an organ transplant. Eye-opening:

Emma was the mother of a young baby, and was feeling fine, when her partner Darren Corkin noticed her skin was very yellow.

He called a friend who worked as a nurse, and was told to take her straight to hospital.

'He said we shouldn't go to the GP, we should go straight to casualty.

'Emma wanted to wait, but I took her in. She didn't come home for three months.'

It was found that Emma, 24, had contracted a rare liver infection, zero-transmitted non-A non-B hepatitis.

Darren, 32, said: 'At first, we were told she might need a transplant. But then we were told it was definite, and she went on to the super-urgent list.

'That night, an organ became available and she had a liver transplant.

'We were told afterwards that she had been hours from death.'

Darren and Emma, of South Shields, say there have been ups and Downs since then.

But the couple, who live with their six-year old son Daniel and 10-month old Nikita, say they are now planning for the future.

Darren said: 'It means we can plan for our wedding next year.

'I don't know what she would have done if she hadn't had the transplant.'

("'I'm tied to a dialysis machine'", BBC News, Aug.21)