A young boy in West Virginia and his family are deeply thankful for the organ donation that saved his life three years ago.
Judah Brooks, now a healthy 3-year-old, wasn’t always this vibrant. Born in 2020 with biliary atresia, a rare and life-threatening liver disease, Judah faced a challenging start.
“I was very scared. I did not know anyone personally who had an organ transplant or another child that has had this same disease,” said Judah’s mother, Katie Brooks.
At just 7 weeks old, Judah underwent a major surgery that only succeeds about a third of the time. Unfortunately, the surgery did not work for Judah, and he required a liver transplant.
“We were really walking into something that we knew nothing about, so it was really a big learning curve and a really quick one at that because we went from a diagnosis to a transplant in less than a year,” Brooks explained.
With the assistance of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, they found a donor in just five weeks.
Now, three years after his surgery, Judah is completely healed, with only a scar to remind him of his ordeal.
“Judah wouldn’t have lived to see his first birthday if it wouldn’t have been for the liver transplant,” Brooks said. “Since that moment, he was in the ICU for less than 48 hours, and after that, he was sitting up and playing. He has been a normal, healthy child since that day.”
Brooks hopes that Judah’s story inspires others to become organ donors.
“If you could look at Judah and see how sick he was before his transplant and see him now, I don’t know how anyone could not register as an organ donor. The transformation in his life is beyond words,” she said.
Many people hesitate to register as organ donors due to the mistaken belief that they won’t be cared for in an emergency situation, says Cheryl King of the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE).
“When people go to the hospital in the ambulance, they are trying to save the life in front of them. In the ER, they are trying to save the life that is in front of them,” King said. “Every doctor, every nurse, they’re not checking to see if you are an organ donor; they are seeing what they can do to save your life. That is the number one misconception about organ donation.”
King encourages anyone interested in learning more about becoming an organ donor to visit the CORE website for registration information.
Rubby Cordelia is a finance journalist for WVPrepBB.com, bringing expertise and clarity to her reporting on financial news. With a passion for demystifying complex economic issues, Rubby delivers insightful analysis and up-to-date information on the latest market trends, financial policies, and economic developments. Her work on WVPrepBB.com is essential reading for anyone looking to stay informed about the ever-changing world of finance.
