Family of infant who suffocated donates organs to two children

A 16-month-old baby weighing only six kilograms - the smallest organ recipient in Israel - received his heart at Sheba Medical Center.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
e (photo credit: Courtesy)
e
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The parents of a 10-month-old baby boy who suffocated to death after swallowing a plastic bottle cap have given life to two other children - one Israeli and one Albanian. The donor family asked to remain anonymous. A 16-month-old baby weighing only six kilograms - the smallest organ recipient in Israel - received his heart at Sheba Medical Center. The process was delayed slightly because the recipient's haredi family waited for the blessing of their hassidic rabbi, who was in Vienna last Shabbat when the heart became available. The eight-month-old Albanian boy received the liver at a hospital in Palermo, Italy, after it was determined that the organ was unsuitable for any Israeli patient. An Italian medical team was flown on a private plane to Ben-Gurion Airport to pick up the liver being stored at Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin. The donation of the liver to Italy was the result of binational cooperation between the two countries, according to Israel Transplant. During the past year, four Israeli children and one adult received organ transplants in Italy. The child, whose surgery was financed by an Italian charity, is now in stable condition. His new liver is said to be functioning normally. Meanwhile, a 12-year-old girl from the North has undergone a liver and pancreas transplant at Schneider Medical Center for Children in Petah Tikva. The girl suffers from the inherited chronic disease cystic fibrosis (CF). The disease affected her pancreas leading her to develop type I diabetes. An unstable sugar-insulin balance meant she required the double transplant. It was the first time an Israeli CF patient received a liver and pancreas: only seven such double transplants have been performed on CF children abroad. The procedure is more commonly performed on adults with the disease.