Family of boy who received living donor transplant meets PA nurse who saved his life
A family from Florida met a woman for the first time this week after their son received a living-donor transplant from her.
Logan Salva was diagnosed with Alagille syndrome, a rare genetic mutation, when he was 2 months old. His best chance at survival was a liver transplant.
“This is one of the conditions that leads to liver failure and death unless you can have a liver transplant. There’s no other treatment available for it currently,” said Dr. George Mazariegos, the chief of pediatric transplantation, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
The family, who are from the Ocala, Fla., area, learned about living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT). LDLT eliminates the need for patients to be placed on the waiting list and offers the opportunity to transplant earlier and when patients are healthier. UPMC leads the nation in living-donor liver transplants.
His parents and immediate family all stepped up to be a living donor, but none of Logan’s immediate family was a viable option.
The family got a call from Pittsburgh about a person, someone they didn’t even know, who wanted to donate a portion of their liver and was a perfect match. Makenzie Beach, the donor, is also a nurse at UPMC Hamot in Erie.
“It just felt it was the right thing for me to do,” Beach said about becoming a living donor.
The procedure was done on June 8, and both Logan, now 20 months old, and Makenzie are recovering well.
“So that just as a win-win, we were able to offer that in a timely fashion for him. And now he’s back home in Florida and we’re continuing to help him and the team and work together to provide the care for his care post transplant, which is, of course, super important,” Mazariegos said.
Beach met Logan and his parents via ZOOM.
“It was so emotional, but so amazing. And I couldn’t ask to be part of something bigger or better than this. It’s like a real miracle,” Beah said about meeting the family. I can’t even imagine how crazy their life has been with having a sick child. I hope they have so much relief and so much for a normal life now and and easier life for all of them.”
Beach also has a message for those thinking of becoming a living donor.
“It was way easier than I thought it would be. I would do it again if I could. I’m three months out and I feel like I didn’t even have surgery. I’m back at work full time and I’ve no health consequences or effects at all from this,” she said.
She says the couple weeks of discomfort to save a life was a small price to pay.
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