Hope on the red eye

Right now, on the red eye from Washington state to Boston, is our samaritan donor. In the world of liver transplants, there are two ways Hope could receive her gift. One is through cadaver donation, where a deceased donor's liver would be given to Hope. Hope is currently on the UNOS waiting list for a cadaver donor. There are WAY too many people waiting for livers than there are livers available. Since becoming a part of the "liver world" I have witnessed baby after baby die waiting for his or her gift. It is heartbreaking. Hope has been on the cadaver list for three months now. The sicker the baby, the higher they are on the list. Of course being sicker also means a much more critical surgery and recovery. I have seen babies die during the recovery process too. From what we can tell, Hope is 3rd or 4th on the cadaver list in this New England region, and there has been no movement in the time she has been waiting.
The other way Hope could receive her gift is through living donation. This means a person chooses to donate a piece of his or her liver. Hope only requires part of a liver to survive, and every person's liver is comprised of two lobes. If a living donor was found, she would receive the smaller part of a liver and the donor would keep the remaining larger part. The donor's liver would grow back to original size. It is the only organ in the body which can regenerate itself. When I first came home, I was very anxious to see what blood type Hope has. It is the first method of determining whether someone could be a living donor. Unfortunately, I am type A and she is type O. I cannot be a living donor.
Back at the end of August, our regional newspaper published a front page article on Hope's miraculous story in the Sunday paper. It was then syndicated around the US and abroad. Friends shared the article on social media, and the outpouring of prayers and support was nothing short of astounding. Shortly after, dear friends of our family sent a message introducing me to a childhood friend of theirs. This person asked if she could be tested as a living donor for Hope. She said she felt a strong calling or prompting from God to do so. And she was serious. Despite never having met us, she wanted to pursue being a donor.
Our first hurdle was to ask the transplant team at Boston Children's Hospital if it would be possible to consider this person as a living donor. Unbeknownst to me, there is a black market for organs which still exists in this country. Donors can receive payment for donating organs. The team takes this very seriously, and decided they would meet as a team to discuss it. At the time I had no idea what they had to discuss (again, I was clueless about unethical practices), and said to our transplant coordinator that I could not see the difference if Hope received an unknown cadaver donor or an unknown (to us) or known living donor. Perhaps it was that statement that contributed to the teams' agreement to allow us to pursue living donation. They gave us the go ahead to begin testing. Our donor quickly began completing questionnaires and bloodwork. All of the donor doctors and Hope's doctors are completely separate. This way, there is no conflict of interest. The donor is seen at a completely different hospital, and if donation surgery happens, Hope's surgeons will travel to this hospital on the day of transplant with cooler in hand to bring the liver back to Hope at Boston Children's Hospital. All of the donor's tests have been passed, and she is now on the red eye coming for the final round of testing to see if surgery could happen. We could even have a date set THIS WEEK for Hope's surgery. To say that it is all so miraculous and surreal would be an understatement.
Boston Children's Hospital has NEVER had what they call a samaritan living liver donor (samaritan being non family member or close known friend). Ever. There has only been ONE samaritan kidney donor at Children's. Ever. Even the name "samaritan donor" gives me chills. We saw one of Hope's doctors on Friday, and he asked how the liver transplant wait process had been going. I explained to him that our samaritan donor was flying in this week for final testing. He looked at Hope, then looked at me, and was at a loss for words. He then said "that would be astounding. I will keep my fingers crossed". I know it's not the crossing of fingers which is guiding Hope's story. But I thanked him, smiled, and basked in the story that is unfolding for my sweet baby girl under God's care.
Even if this does not work out, the fact that someone is willing to step forward to say YES to God's prompting in order to save my baby girl's life is breathtaking. Never, in a million years, would I have dreamed of this. Only God could orchestrate such a miracle. And I am the luckiest mother to be a part of it. Samaritan. Believe. HOPE!!