Liver transplant saves young girl's life
Less than a year ago 2-year-old Corrie Eavenson was slowly dying.
She was born with biliary atresia. A blockage in her liver didn't allow it to drain. Toxic chemicals in her body were building up and Corrie was running out of time.
"Christmas came and went, and New Year's came and went," Corrie's mother Paige explains the waiting stretched from days to months.
In February -- they got the call.
Unlike most transplant patients, her liver would be sent to a place more than 400 miles away from her Land O' Lakes home -- to Atlanta, Georgia. That's because the type of transplant Corrie needed was not offered in the Tampa Bay area.
"Once I saw pictures of her old liver, compared to her new liver, she really needed a new one," Paige told FOX 13.
Corrie spent four weeks in a hospital. There her mother witnessed a transformation: "In a month's time, we had a new liver, a new kid."
Corrie takes seven medications. However, in a few months she'll be down to just one – it is needed to keep her body from rejecting her new liver.
Corrie now swims and plays just like a normal child. Paige says that would not have been possible without a gift from the donor family.
"I don't know if I have enough words or gratitude. I think about them often, every time we're celebrating with Corrie or watching her grow. I think of that donor family, that that Mom is wishing she still had her baby here, watch grow, and make messes and get into stuff. I can't imagine the grief they are going through, and God will be able to comfort them and give them peace, knowing their child is living in mine."
To learn more about Corrie's journey we've added a link to her Facebook page.