In early March, Donate Life Illinois asked its Facebook fans and Twitter followers to share their stories about why they support organ and tissue donation. Throughout National Donate Life Month, we will feature several of the stories that were submitted via our social media outlets. Enjoy!
Mia’s Story (submitted by Trista Royer)
My daughter, Mia, was born with gastroschisis. Gastroschisis is a birth defect that causes the intestines to grow on the outside of the body. We were told that Mia’s birth defect would be a quick fix with surgery. Unfortunately, we would later learn that Mia needed a transplant.
Mia had her first surgery to correct her birth defect at just 31 weeks. During this surgery, doctors discovered that Mia only had 12 cm of viable intestine. Doctors then diagnosed her with a condition known as severe short bowel syndrome. This left Mia unable to ingest any food (not even an ounce of formula).
Mia was taken to Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago for bowel rehabilitation. Doctors worked tirelessly to help Mia for more than a month with little to no improvement. She was placed on total parenteral nutrition through a central line in her chest because of her inability to eat. After witnessing months of corrective surgeries, I was told that Mia’s final hope was a small intestine transplant. On February 14, 2008, when Mia was just six months old, she was placed on the national transplant waiting list for a small intestine.
Mia
Throughout the next year, Mia went through numerous central and PICC lines and many infections trying to keep her body well without food. On February 4, 2009, almost a year after being listed, we received a call from Children’s Memorial Hospital’s organ procurement team. They had great news—a potential donor.
We were thrilled at this news but also nervous. We drove Mia to Children’s Memorial where Mia went through dozens of preliminary tests to ensure that the donor organ was a match for her. She was taken to surgery around 10:30 that night, and her new intestine was transplanted around 1 a.m. on February 5.
Mia had a two-month recovery at Children’s Memorial and is doing amazingly well today. She is two years post-transplant and living the life of a healthy three-year-old. Her doctors told us that she is the “poster child” for bowel transplants.
The Royer Family (Mia, Ben, and Trista)
As our story illustrates, organ donation is so very important. Without this gift of life from our donor family, my daughter would be living on borrowed time or may not be living at all. My husband and I are both registered organ/tissue donors. If anything ever happened to either of us, we wouldn’t think twice about donating to families that are in desperate need. We understand that the pain of losing a loved one is severe, but we also have first-hand knowledge of the impact a single organ donor can have on people’s lives. We get to see smiling proof of the gift of life through donation every single day.
For more information about Mia and the Royer family, go to www.miaroyer.net.
To register your decision to be an organ and tissue donor in 30 seconds or less, visit DonateLifeIllinois.org.
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[...] many stories of lifesaving organ transplants given to children in need. During April, we featured the story of Mia Royer, a one-year-old girl who received a lifesaving intestine transplant in 2009. Today, she is fully [...]