SINGAPORE \u2013 When service staff Noel Joshua Selvanathan, 36, first learnt that his son Isaiah was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition and needed a liver transplant<\/span><\/a> to survive, he feared there was little he could do to help.<\/p>\n \u201cI was incarcerated then, and having struggled with substance and alcohol abuse in the past, I was just not the right fit. I also suffered from hepatitis C and fatty liver disease, so all I could do was pray,\u201d he told The Straits Times.<\/p>\n Isaiah, now three, was born with Alagille syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterised by abnormal bile ducts that cause bile to accumulate inside the liver, making it hard for it to get rid of waste which accumulates in the blood. This also damages the liver.<\/p>\n Estimated to affect about one in 70,000 people, it is usually discovered either when patients are still infants or during early childhood. Liver transplantation is the only effective long-term treatment for the disease.<\/p>\n Isaiah was diagnosed at KK Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Hospital but was later referred to the National University Hospital (NUH) as it is the only public hospital in Singapore authorised to perform paediatric liver transplants.<\/p>\n These complex procedures for children up to 18 years old are managed by the National University Centre for Organ Transplantation (NUCOT) and the Khoo Teck Puat \u2013 National University Children\u2019s Medical Institute.<\/p>\n S. Venkatesh Karthik is a senior consultant with the Division of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Nutrition, Hepatology and Liver Transplantation in the Department of Paediatrics at the Khoo Teck Puat \u2013 National University Children\u2019s Medical Institute (KTP-NUCMI). He said when he first saw Isaiah at two years old, the boy was very weak.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat struck me when I first saw him was how jaundiced he was. Also, his appetite was very bad and his energy was very low. He was unable to play as a child of his age should be playing,\u201d Karthik said.<\/p>\n Jaundice, the yellow cast to the skin and eyes, is a hallmark of liver problems.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when his (older) sister, Alexandria, was trying to stimulate him to play, he just did not have the energy to do so. He used to lie down and smile,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n That was when it hit home that the boy was in urgent need of a transplant.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got the nutritionist on board immediately to advise on his dietary plan as it was important for the child to be at optimal health from the nutritional point of view since liver transplant is a major undertaking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The boy was admitted for a battery of tests and scans before he was listed for a transplant. In such situations, the child is put on the national waiting list or the team looks to the National Organ Transplant Unit for an altruistic anonymous living donor.<\/p>\n The average waiting time on the national list for a deceased donor liver in Singapore is about 12 to 22 months. But because donor organs are scarce, waiting periods can extend significantly depending on blood type, medical urgency and the severity of the patient\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n Many patients opt for a living donor liver transplant, where a healthy family member or compatible living person donates a portion of his or her liver, reducing the wait time to about two months.<\/p>\n Noel said: \u201cIt was after my release and after I met with the doctors that I realised how serious the condition was. Isaiah\u2019s doctors had determined that a liver transplant was his best chance at a healthy future.\u201d<\/p>\n Since he could not donate part of his liver, his wife, Melissa Orchard, volunteered.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, during one of the scans, Orchard was found to have lesions and a growth in her spleen.<\/p>\n The 39-year-old housewife said: \u201cThe doctors had to eventually remove my spleen and because of that, I could no longer give part of my liver to Isaiah. The only way for Isaiah was to wait for a cadaveric (deceased) donor.\u201d<\/p>\n Isaiah\u2019s mother Melissa Orchard was supposed to donate part of her liver to him. However, scans showed lesions in her spleen and, after having it removed, she was out of the picture.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n When Noel found out that it was out of the question for his wife to donate, he set out on what would be the most important mission of his life.<\/p>\n \u201cI had to totally change my lifestyle and give up bad habits and alcohol to become a viable organ donor for Isaiah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At the time, he was having supper and drinking almost every day, usually with friends after work.<\/p>\n \u201cIsaiah was diagnosed with worsening liver failure and if we were to wait for a deceased liver donor, his own liver would have failed him already. When I found out that I was a match for him, I was extremely grateful to God and to the doctors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n For Noel to be considered as a living liver donor, his liver had to be completely free of disease.<\/p>\n The doctors said that while hepatitis C and fatty liver disease disqualified him automatically, they are highly treatable.<\/p>\n Once the hepatitis C virus was eradicated with medication and his fatty liver disease reversed through weight loss, diet adjustments and regular exercise, he could become a donor. Noel would also need to abstain from alcohol.<\/p>\n Noel started going to the gym regularly.<\/p>\n \u201cI even managed to reduce my fatty liver by eating healthily. That surprised even myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It took a few months before the doctors gave him the green light to donate part of his liver to his son.<\/p>\n On March 26, father and son underwent a complex 12-hour liver transplant at NUH, led by Vidyadhar Mali, surgical director of the Paediatric Kidney and Liver Transplantation Programmes at the National University Centre for Organ Transplantation.<\/p>\n Transplant surgeon Pang Ning Qi from the Adult Liver Transplantation Programme operated on Noel to remove part of his liver, while two other paediatric transplant surgeons, Dale Loh and Vidyadhar, carried out the transplant in Isaiah.<\/p>\n \u201cThese two theatres are connected by a common corridor so that the two teams could communicate, telling each other the stages we were at,\u201d Loh said.<\/p>\n The surgery was a success.<\/p>\n \u201cThe eureka moment for the teams was when Isaiah\u2019s liver turned a nice reddish brown and it was soft,\u201d Loh added. This meant the organ was starting to work.<\/p>\n To ensure that the new liver was working, Loh said the team used the Doppler ultrasound so that they could hear the pulsation of the portal vein, the major blood vessel that carries nutrient-rich and toxin-laden blood from the gastrointestinal tract, gallbladder, pancreas and spleen directly to the liver for processing.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was when we knew it was good,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Today, Isaiah, who was once frail, yellow and devoid of energy, is an active toddler who loves life and is as curious as any other child his age.<\/p>\n Noel Joshua changed his lifestyle and was eventually cleared to donate his liver to his son Isaiah.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Because the first year after the transplant is the most challenging, as this is typically when rejection happens, Isaiah continues to be closely monitored by the NUH team.<\/p>\n Orchard said: \u201cHe is so active, I have to focus my attention on him all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n The journey has also transformed Noel as a father and a person.<\/p>\n He now exercises regularly, has cut red meats from his diet and no longer drinks alcohol.<\/p>\n \u201cI remain healthy for not only myself but for my family. We are forever deeply grateful to the NUH team, who took us through one of the most difficult periods of our lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Correction note: <\/b>This story has been updated following a clarification from NUH that Karthik was not part of the team that carried out the transplant in Isaiah.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 When service staff Noel Joshua Selvanathan, 36, first learnt that his son Isaiah was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition and needed a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/71820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Finding the right donor<\/h2>\n
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