Philadelphia baby with rare disease receives liver transplant

An 8-month-old Philadelphia baby is recovering after becoming the one of the smallest ever to receive a liver transplant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Annalise Suthers was born with a rare disease that flushed her skin in a yellow hue and caused her liver to swell, MyFoxPhilly.com reported.

Doctors diagnosed Annalise with Biliary atresia, a rare disease that occurs in about 1 in 5,000 babies. The condition occurs when a bile duct is blocked between the small intestine and the liver.

When Annalise was just 3 months old her liver failed. She was rushed to the emergency room, where doctors found that her organ had swelled three times its normal size, MyFoxPhilly.com reported.

Annalise— weighing only 6 pounds at the time— immediately underwent liver repair surgery, but the corrective procedure was not successful.

Through the “The Gift of Life”  donor program, Annalise found a match for a liver donor quickly.

Annalise will have to take medication twice a day for the rest of her life, and she currently is not up to speed on her motor and cognitive skills, MyFoxPhilly.com reported.

But, she’s celebrating milestones similar to others her age and has doubled in weight and is even rolling over.

Annalise’s parents, who call their daughter a fighter, are working to raise awareness about the rare disease and becoming a donor.

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