News From Transplant Week of March 4, 2001 / Vol. 2 No. 9

 

3 Potential Liver Donors Fly to LA With Canadian Infant

A 4-month-old infant barred by Canadian government regulations from receiving a living-donor liver transplant from a stranger flew to the United States with three volunteers who have offered to give him part of their livers.

The child, Camilo Sandoval Ewen, his family and the three potential donors -- all from Vancouver, British Columbia -- met with doctors at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where Dr. Christopher Shackleton, a Vancouver native, has offered to waive his surgical fees for the transplant.

The infant suffers from biliary atresia, a rare disease that generally requires a liver transplant. Because the boy's family feared that a cadaver donor would not become available in time, his father offered to be a living donor but doctors deemed his liver too large.

The family then made an emotional appeal in The Vancouver Sun for live donor volunteers, and more than 60 people responded. The three who appeared most likely to be possible matches -- all said to be of small stature -- then flew to Los Angeles for evaluation.

While two of the three prospective donors remained in Los Angeles for further evaluation, the Ewens returned to Vancouver with their child after being told he would need to gain more weight before undergoing surgery. The infant was subsequently readmitted to Children's Hospital in Vancouver where he can be fed intravenously.

The trip had some disappointments to it," said his father Jerry Ewen. "We learned he was in worse shape than we had thought." But the good news, he added, was that "all three donors look like they will be eligible at this point and they are doing further tests to clarify who would be the best."

Canada permits living donor transplants from friends or neighbors -- as well as family members -- "as long as there is a pre-existing relationship, not just some complete stranger," said British Columbia Transplant Society spokesperson Sally Greenwood.

She said that despite the family's efforts to secure a living donor transplant in Los Angeles for their baby, the child remains on the British Columbia transplant waiting list and there still is a 90 percent chance a liver from a deceased donor will be found for the infant in time.

"We believe the system in place in Canada will still fulfill this family's needs," she said.

Other sources: Vancouver Sun