Walking miracle
Brave Hannah, 4, starts her schooling after 3 transplants
SURGERY
EVERY child’s first day at school is special, but for one set of parents waving goodbye to their daughter last week was nothing short of a miracle.
Hannah Wallace, four, has spent more than eight months of her life in hospital.
She has survived three liver transplants and hundreds more life-saving procedures to keep her alive.
Mum Amanda says she and husband Tom lost count of the times they thought this day would never happen.
“Hannah’s a walking miracle,” said Amanda, 39.
Born with biliary atresia – a rare and life-threatening liver condition – Hannah first had major surgery at just three weeks old to rebuild her faulty bile ducts.
However, her liver function did not improve and at five months old Hannah was put on the transplant list.
Amanda was deemed to be a good match, so donated a section of her own liver to save Hannah’s life.
But immediately after the eight-hour operation at Leeds General Infirmary a clot had been detected in the portal vein leading into Hannah’s liver and she was put straight onto the “super- urgent” transplant list. A week later she was rushed back into theatre to have a second transplant, followed by more agonising weeks in hospital to see if it had worked.
Unfortunately in the autumn of 2017 many of the same symptoms had returned.
“The next two years were hell, with Hannah suffering countless infections and a undergoing a series of massive
PRIDE Hannah & mum Amanda
operations to fix her – but nothing worked,” said Amanda.
Put on the list for the third time in December 2018, it was 10 months later Hannah’s parents finally got the call that another liver had been found.
Eleven hours later Hannah came out of theatre and her parents thought this time they could relax and start planning their family’s future together.
But within minutes, nurses picked up a massive bleed in her bowel caused during the transplant and she was rushed back in for yet more surgery.
She had two more big operations this year to correct a twisted bowel and a reconstruction of her bile ducts.
Speech therapist Amanda was thrilled to see Hannah start at Beighton Infant School, in their hometown Sheffield.
Hannah and sister Mia, eight, have been playing “schools” all through lockdown, Amanda says.
“The moment we bought Hannah’s new uniform she wanted to wear it all the time – she couldn’t wait for this day to come,” Amanda added.
“We’re just so incredibly grateful to those two donors who gave Hannah another chance and also to the doctors and nurses at Leeds General Infirmary. After all we’ve been through, taking Hannah for her first day at school is a dream come true.”
The family has been supported by the Children’s Liver Foundation, the UK’s only charity for children’s liver disease For more go to: childrenliverdisease.org.
After all we have been through her first day is a real dream come true
AMANDA WALLACE
MUM OF TRANSPLANT GIRL