In an incident highlighting a mother’s love, Sarah Lamont, from Ballymena, Northern Ireland, recently donated one of her kidneys to her little boy, Joe, and just months later surgeons also removed a section of her liver.
Joe was diagnosed with two aggressive organ diseases before his first birthday - polycystic kidney disorder and congenital hypatic fibrosis, a form of liver disease – and doctors were concerned that he might not survive as his kidneys were so enlarged they took up his whole abdomen and crushed his lungs.
The little boy’s kidneys were subsequently removed when he was just a few days old and he has been on dialysis ever since
Concerned for her son, she took matters into her own hands and elected herself for organ donation.
Speaking to Barcroft TV she said that while they waited for a call, nothing happened. It was then that she decided that if she can give a lobe of her liver, and Joe can receive a kidney, she could give both.
In January 2017, Lamont donated a lobe of her liver and, just seven months later, she underwent a kidney transplant.
For the transplant Joe was admitted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, while his mother was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
During the procedures, surgeons removed Lamont’s kidney before it was couriered four miles via ambulance to surgeons ready to transplant it into Joe.
Now several months into recovery Joe is said to be the healthiest he’s ever been, and has even been ale to go swimming for the very first time.
