Mom donates portion of ‘liver’ in show of love

Members of the medical team are seen operating on the mother who was willing to offer part of her liver for a transplant to save the life of her son 

Eventually the team of medical specialists decided that surgery was needed and that a part of the liver had to be removed

Under the guidance of Prof. Wasanthi Pinto and Anesthesia specialist Saman Nanayakkara the surgery was commenced

There is no limit to a mother’s love for her child. This was amply demonstrated when a 37-year-old mother from the remote North Western Province at Bakamuna in Elahara decided to donate half of her liver to her 15-year-old child; which is what was required to keep her offspring alive.

A medical team, assigned for the surgery, spent 17 hours at the operating theatre to transplant a portion of the mother’s liver to the child. 

The child fell sick with the body turning yellow and swelling up.  The mother took her to Bakamuna Government Hospital which was all she could do. The Medical Officer after an examination process decided to transfer the child to the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, which comes under the purview of the University of Peradeniya
The child came under the care of surgeon Prof. W.Buddhika Disssanayake and a Team of Medics at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital. They kept the child under observation for nearly a month with tests carried out to ascertain the condition of the child and his ailment. The medical team did not hasten the observation yet kept an eye on the patient. Eventually the team of medical specialists decided that surgery was needed and that a part of the liver had to be removed and a donor was necessary for a transplant. The affected area amounted to nearly half of the liver.

When the team contacted the mother of the boy she readily volunteered to give half of her liver to be grafted to her own child in order to save a life.

The Team of medical specialists then decided that there was no need to waste time and prepared for the surgery.
The medical team did not rush and looked into the aftercare, post-operative care and how they could make the child continue to live. 

After all these essential facts were decided upon they told the mother that she could donate half of her liver. So under the guidance of Prof. Wasanthi Pinto and Anesthesia specialist Saman Nanayakkara the surgery was commenced with assistence offered by a large team of specialists to make the long operation a success.

It was team work at the utmost with the assignment being a challenge given the health situation in the country. They worked as a team and not only the medics, but support came in abundance from the entire staff. All these contributions helped to make this type of surgery a success. All those involved wanted to fulfill their task during the operation where the mother made a contribution to save her son. What happened was beyond anyone’s imagination, said a member of the specialist medical team.

The Director of the Hospital Dr. Arjuna Tillekeratne gave his utmost to this massive ‘ Life Saving ‘ event by coordinating the staff.

However there are fewer occasions when children’s love does reach the parents. There are however occasions when children make sacrifices for their parents. This writer would like to present two heartwarming stories to the reader.

This writer met a lady who has six children, but is now in a ‘home for the elders. She said that she has six children living in Canada while one daughter resides in Australia. She said that they send money and sees to all her requirements, but she said, “What is the earthly use of all that because I have not seen them in years”. 

Then I know of a male medical specialist in Colombo who is taking care of his mother and even feeds her before leaving home. There are men like them too in Sri Lanka similar to the 36-year-old mother who donated half her liver to her son. 

These stories go on to prove that love knows no boundaries when life is threatened by illness or when responsibility has to be carried on one’s shoulders.