Tauqeer Anjum, pictured above with his dad Shakeel
A father was just hours from donating part of his liver to save the life of his rapidly-deteriorating son when another liver became available from a dead donor.
With doctors giving nine-year-old Tauqeer Anjum just days to live, his father Shakeel Anjum stepped forward to become a so-called live donor' because no replacement livers were available.
As Mr Anjum, 33, lay in hospital preparing to undergo the risky operation to donate 25 per cent of his liver, the phone rang to say a matching liver had just been found.
Mr Anjum, a taxi driver of Rushton Road, Thornbury, Bradford, said: "I told the nurse that she had given us the biggest relief of our lives.
"My family had gone from being worried about my son's health to being very worried about me as well.
"This news meant we could concentrate on Tauqeer.
advertisement
"I was due to have the operation that very morning when we got the call. I had even got my name tag on and was waiting in the adult liver unit.
"I just couldn't believe it. It was a miracle."
After a successful 13-hour transplant operation, Tauqeer is making a strong recovery at St James' Hospital in Leeds.
He said: "I would like to thank all the doctors and nurses and my mum and dad. Before, I had no energy and felt bad. Now I feel much stronger."
His mum, Nuzhat Anjum, 33, said: "This will change his life. For the last eight weeks he had been really yellow - his body, eyes and even his tears when he cried have been yellow.
"This has been the worst time of our lives.
"They told us Tauqeer needed a transplant urgently and had only got three weeks to live. By the time of the operation, that was down to just days.
"He had been pushed to the top of the liver transplant waiting list for all children in the country.
"As well as that, I was really worried about my husband because he was also doing a really risky thing. But he had no choice because time was running out."
"When the nurse said another liver had been found I burst out crying and held my husband's hand. It was such a relief for us."
Tauqeer was born with a rare liver disease called progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis.
Despite difficulties caused by the disease, he had been able to attend Bradford Moor Primary School until his condition deteriorated earlier this year.
Two weeks after the operation, Tauqeer is now looking forward to returning to school and to his home, where he lives with his parents and sisters Aniqah, ten, and Atiqah, one, and brother Tauseer, seven.
A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals said: "We are delighted that a suitable donor organ was available for Tauqeer and that he is making such a good recovery.
"Hopefully, publicity about his case will help encourage more people to understand the huge difference a donor organ can make to the lives of patients young and old alike."
With a live donor transplant, a healthy person donates part of his or her liver to the recipient. This procedure is becoming a frequent option in children, partly because child-sized livers are in short supply.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
