A mom in Northern Ireland is saving her son’s life by donating two vital organs that he desperately needs.
Sarah Lamont’s four-year old son, Joe, was born with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, a rare disease that forced him to have his kidneys removed. To stay alive he must undergo dialysis three times every week. The young man has also developed liver disease that could threaten his life further if a transplant is not received.
Joe was placed on a transplant list but after one year it wasn’t looking good. Sarah soon discovered that she was a match to donate one of her kidneys and part of her liver to Joe in hopes of giving him a normal life.
Surprisingly, her parents also donated organs to their own children in order to save their lives.
Sarah is now scheduled to donate her liver to Joe on January 25. After several months of recovery she will then be able to also donate one of her kidneys.
“I’ll be all right, I’m a very optimistic person. If I could do it today I would, the sooner the better,” Sarah says of the double transplant. “I would never have doubts. Joe’s been through so much, there’s been a few times where I’ve been told he’s not going to make it and he always does.”
Joe has several siblings, Max and Eve, who have had to watch their brother suffer and receive most of the attention in the family.
Sarah says she plans to spread out her time a lot more among her children once the transplants are successful. “I said to him the other night ‘this is going to be your year, Joe’ He got excited and said to me, ‘I’m getting a new liver and a new kidney!’”
The optimistic mom isn’t stopping there, she plans to continue her push to get more people on transplant lists around the world.
“I’m lucky I can give Joe a liver and kidney, but if he had a heart problem he could die waiting,” Sarah says. “If you’re on your deathbed, of course you would take an organ, so if you’re prepared to take it you should of course be prepared to give.”
Good job mom!
