Toddler in need of a new liver and kidney gets both right before her 3rd birthday
Ahead of her third birthday, Lilah Joiner received the two best presents she could have ever received: a kidney and a liver.
Lilah was born with a rare genetic disorder called autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, which causes cysts to develop in the kidneys. It can also cause failure of other organs, and on July 31, 2017, after two years of dialysis, she was placed on a transplant list, with doctors telling her family she needed a new kidney and liver, fast.
There are not enough deceased donors in the United States to help all of the patients who need organ transplants, George Mazariegos, chief of pediatric transplantation at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, told Good Morning America, and Lilah's family started looking for living donors. Enter Joseph Smith, the husband of Lilah's mother's best friend. He was a match for the liver donation, and extended family friend Missy Lathem was able to donate a kidney.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Exactly one year after she was placed on the transplant list, Lilah underwent surgery and had two living-donor transplants. She is "just loving life with her new kidney and liver," Lilah's mom, Katherin Joiner, told GMA. "She said, 'I'm so excited I get to eat pizza now!'" The family is grateful for the generosity of friends, and Mazariegos said they are "the real heroes in this story, along with Lilah. Because of the way they helped her and really thought about the impact for their lives." Catherine Garcia
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published