Start into a new life
Jakob, a liver transplant since 2021 at the age of three
The experiences and memories of the transplant are still very fresh in our family. Our son Jakob was operated on less than three months ago and received his new liver and his new life.
The positive consequences of the transplant have given us a fresh start as a family
But perhaps the closeness in time of this experience could have a certain value for the collection of reports. We still remember our everyday life before the operation very well, we can still clearly feel the emotions from the weeks of the post-operative stay in hospital. And now we are getting to know our new everyday life after the transplant.
That this operation would be a turning point for our son and for us as a family was absolutely clear to us on a mental level long beforehand. However, it was honestly unimaginable beforehand how our hearts could carry this amount of emotions, joy and gratitude, disbelief, hope and pure, instinctive happiness. The positive consequences of the transplant are omnipresent with our son, tangible in every moment we spend together. They allow us to start anew as a family.
There is no more pain to take away his lust for life
The severe genetic liver disease that previously characterized his life is no longer noticeable. The main manifestations of the disease were persistent, severe itching, associated nightly sleep disturbances and long periods of wakefulness, as well as frequent abdominal pain. All that is simply gone now!
For the first time since his birth over three years ago, we can sleep through the night. Our son can concentrate on playing. There is no more pain that takes away his zest for life or puts him in a mood that makes everyday life difficult for all of us. He can enjoy summer for the first time in his life: wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt no longer means scratched, bleeding skin on his arms. No, summer is now just sunshine and summer joy for him and for us.
The difficult time is (and will probably remain) present in our memories
This feeling of waking up from one moment to the next in a new life, a new world, is indescribably beautiful. The bad time of demoralization, lack of energy and resignation becomes more and more a thing of the past. The difficult time of anxiety, fear and hope - the transplant itself, the revision operation that became necessary afterwards, the entire six-week stay in hospital is (and will probably remain) present in our memories.
We have the good feeling that things are only really getting started now!
But the new time with the new donated organ without the disease is now our time and takes us completely under its spell. This new phase of life makes us happy, joyful and infinitely grateful. This summer we are making a new start as a family. With an LTX note in the medical file, with a (still) red scar on our child's stomach, with a long list of necessary medication, with all the visible and invisible baggage, we have the good feeling that things are only just getting started!