There was a time when I wondered if we would see her live past the age of 1 or 2, because she was diagnosed with a very rare and serious liver disease called Biliary Atresia at the age of two months. By the time she was a year old her liver was failing and she was placed on the liver transplant list. When she was 18 months old we went to live at Cincinnati's Children's ICU because she was so gravely ill. Liver failure is a scary process and it was absolute hell seeing my baby go through it. There were times when I wondered if we were doing the right thing because she was in so much pain all of the time, but we knew that the only chance she had to live was to get a liver transplant, so we kept waiting for that day to come.
Finally on February 10th, 2008 at age 19 months, Maya received her new liver. The first few years were rocky, and we were in the hospital often. About a year after her transplant, we were again near death's door because Maya was exposed to someone that had pink eye. Her viral count at one point was 10 million and the outlook was not good. However, due to a daring and progressive treatment by Cincinnati Children's (and Maya's fighting nature), she bounced back stronger than ever. (Sidenote: she did not have pink eye that time. But in the summer of 2010, she did get pink eye and a double ear infection at the same time and sailed through both of conditions without any problems or even a trip to the hospital. Go figure!)
As I look back over the past few years and all of the uncertainty and fear that we have gone through due to Maya's illness and surgeries, I can't help but feel lucky. She is a true gift - a sunny, happy child who always has a smile on her face and an opinion she loves to share! Now my "little bittle" is 5, and not so little anymore. Thanks to the miraculous gift of organ donation, Maya has blossomed into a beautiful little girl who loves life. She is looking forward to starting school in the fall and tells everyone she meets that she's going to be a doctor one day. I believe that she is living proof that miracles can and do occur.
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