We had an extra 30 years with Rachel

Yvonne lost her beloved daughter, Rachel four years ago. But she shares her story here to demonstrate why organ donation is so important to her. 

Rachel was born a normal healthy child. When she was three years old, she contracted fulminant hepatitis A of unknown origin. 

She had been poorly for about three weeks. She had several visits to the GP who dismissed any serious illness even though I pointed out that the whites of her eyes were yellow. At this point she had stopped eating and drinking and her belly was swollen. Eventually she was admitted to the local hospital who in turn sent her to Kings College Hospital. 

After two weeks in Kings, Rachel was moved into ICU. We were then told of the severity of her condition, and it was suggested the family come and say their goodbyes. This was obviously devastating news which we struggled to come to terms with. The doctors told us that Rachel was so poorly that even if a liver became available for transplant, they were unsure that she would survive the operation. Then I remember quite vividly the doctors  coming in to inform us that a liver had become available in Scandinavia and was due to be flown in imminently. My mind at this time was such that I didn’t want to sign the consent forms for the operation, as I believed this would void me of any blame should she not survive. 

Rachel made a great recovery from her first transplant

Rachel had her transplant in May 1991. The operation took around 16 hours but she made an astonishing recovery and was discharged about a month later. I remember the doctors being surprised at how quickly she recovered. 

Rachel enjoyed a normal busy life

Over the next few years, everything went well. Rachel grew up living a normal life, mainstream schooling, starting work and had moved out to live with her partner when in mid 2015, she had some adverse results from her routine check-up at Kings. It became clear her liver was failing and was she diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. Rachel was put on the transplant list and waited around four months. She had her second transplant just after Christmas 2015 aged 27, again making a remarkable recovery, sitting up chatting in ICU the next day! 

Rachel with her parents the day after her second transplant

Just as with the first transplant, Rachel had no real complications following the operation and continued to live a relatively well life. 

Sadly, when she was just 33, we lost her to sepsis. The only relevance sepsis had to the transplants was long term immunosuppressant therapy, meaning she couldn’t fight the infection.  We estimate that she was ill for no more than four days. She passed away at Kings on 13th Aug 2021, the very hospital which had fought so hard for her and saved her twice previously. 

I’m sharing Rachel’s story because it’s so important that people can like us can get extra time with the people they love. We had an extra 30 years with Rachel that we wouldn’t have had if that special person hadn’t have had a donor card or equivalent.