10-year-old girl thrives on gift of life

Lakewood News
10-year-old girl thrives on gift of life
Child, mother remember organ donor who saved girl's life at 4 years old


By Jennifer Gilbert write the author

November 01, 2007
Consuelo West of Lakewood has a hard time not spoiling her daughter, Alicia Valdez

Alicia Valdez and her mother Consuelo West are strong advocates for organ and tissue donation. Valdez received a liver transplant when she was four years old from a 16-year-old boy who died in a car accident.

It was not always so difficult to say no to her 10-year-old daughter, but five years ago West faced losing her only child.

Valdez became gravely ill, and doctors could not find what was wrong with her. A virus had attacked her system, draining her body of fluids, lowering her blood sugar and eventually causing liver failure.

She was one of three pediatric patients waiting for a liver at the Children's Hospital, and she remained on the list for seven long days.

"I had a lot of different emotions," West said. "I don't think I had time to register it all."

All three patients waiting for liver donations received them while West was in the hospital, but Valdez was the only one who survived.

Valdez remained in the hospital for six weeks while doctors made sure her body accepted the donated liver.

"They still couldn't prepare me for what I saw," West said when her daughter was about to go in for surgery. "She was completely strapped down, both arms, both legs. It was very hard. She was trying to mouth 'mommy' at me, but she couldn't because of the tube in her throat. I had to walk away."

Valdez received a portion of a liver from a 16-year-old who had died in a car accident. His nickname was Bubba, and he saved four other lives that day with another portion of his liver, his heart, kidneys and his lungs.

Donor Alliance, the organ donation organization serving Colorado and most of Wyoming, said one donor could save eight lives with organ donation and an additional 100 lives with tissue donation. As of Oct. 19, there were 1,774 people in Colorado waiting for an organ donation. Children accounted for 33 of them. Usable organs include the heart, pancreas, liver, kidneys, lungs and the small intestine. Tissue donations can go to many compatible matches waiting for life-saving assistance.

"Colorado has one of the highest donation rates in the country," said Jennifer Moe, spokeswoman for Donor Alliance. "More than 60 percent say yes to donation. … That's in the top 5 percent in the country."

The United Network for Organ Sharing regulates donations, and recipients receive priority based on the urgency of need, compatibility of the donor and recipient, and blood type.

West had played the waiting game before with her own father. He had been diagnosed with cancer and had been waiting for a liver, but his name never reached the top of the list. He was removed because the cancer spread too far.

He died shortly after Valdez recovered.

"I honestly couldn't believe when I heard Alicia needed a liver transplant," West said. "At that time, we knew dad couldn't get a transplant. It was hard. I think he waited to make sure she was OK."

Valdez remembers very little of her time in the hospital. She was 4 at the time, but she remembers the nurses, the clowns and the necklaces she made.

She also remembers considering possibilities most children never have to take into account.

"I was thinking I might not make it," Valdez said. "I think about it, that I am really lucky I got one. I'm not one of the kids who's still on the list."

She now loves playing basketball, one of Bubba's favorite sports. Bubba also collected pennies, and every time Valdez sees one, she thinks of the boy who saved her life.

Valdez and West got the opportunity to meet Bubba's grandmother, the woman who raised him, last year. They gathered at Chuck E. Cheese, and West visited with the grandmother while Valdez and the other grandchild played together.

Bubba's grandfather had died the year before his life ended, so the grandmother had been alone after his accident. West said that it was a difficult decision for the grandmother to donate Bubba's organs, but the grandmother was happy to meet the girl who her grandson's death had helped.

"When she received my letter, she felt her son didn't die in vain," West said. "There is actually a part of him living through Alicia. I think of her all the time."

There were nearly 98,000 people waiting for organs nationally as of Oct. 29, and 18 people a day die waiting for a transplant. About 500,000 people donate organ and tissue every year, Moe said.

Donor Alliance spends much of its time educating the public on organ and tissue donation, helping eliminate myths that someone cannot give because of age or health. Individual cases are judged at the time of death.

Moe added that a person must be proclaimed legally brain dead and be a registered donor to have his or her organs used, and they also must die in a hospital. Tissue donations can be taken from registered donors who die outside of a hospital setting.

"Anybody who works in this industry is passionate about helping people," Moe said. "We care about the wonderful people we get to meet and the lives organ and tissue donation save."

West considers that generosity regularly and is herself a registered donor. Simple, everyday activities are not so mundane for the mother.

She remembers sitting in the hospital room, wishing she could be home making her daughter breakfast, driving her to school, even be in rush hour on her way to work.

"This is something I will never forget," West said. "I see things differently now."

TO BECOME A DONOR

Colorado is a first-person consent state, meaning that once a citizen registers a decision to donate, no one can override that decision. Donor Alliance offers three ways to register.

• Say yes to donation when renewing a driver's license at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

• Visit the nonprofit's Web site at coloradodonorregistry.org.

• Request a donor form from Donor Alliance by calling 303-329-4747.