Once A Liver Momma, Always A Liver Momma

As I sit and keep a distant, online vigil for a baby and a family I have never met, I am forced to reflect.

Liver Mommas: We support each other. We share our stories, our joy, our pain, our disappointments, our triumphs, our hope, our advice… But, most of all, we share the experience of having a child with a life-threatening liver disease, more often than not, leading to transplant and the life-long trials and complications that come with that.

When someone announces "THE call has come; a match has been found!" We rejoice. Those of us who have been through transplant feel the excitement, the anxiety and the rush of conflicting emotions that we remember from our own experience. Those who have not, I imagine, feel the excitement and hope, fear and longing that goes with the waiting and watching your child grow more ill. 

When we hear "There are complications, we need prayers!" We bow our heads and fervently whisper words of love and hope to be carried to heaven, knowing the fear and the way time freezes as you wait to hear that, hopefully, everything will be okay.

Sometimes, with a profound sadness that cannot be expressed, we receive the devestating news that a tiny spirit was too great for this earthly world and was called to heaven. Those of us who have never experienced this have a mixture of emotion… grief for the life lost and the family, a desire to reach out to comfort where we know there can be none, a gripping fear in the knowledge that our story could have followed the same path (and maybe still could), guilt that we were "the lucky ones", and a renewed appreciation for the life of our own children and each day we are blessed to spend with them.  

To those of you waiting, we know it seems endless. We remember the hope and we hope with you. To those of you recovering, it's a long road, but you and your child will get there. One day you will look back at how far you have come and marvel at all that has been accomplished. To those of you who have come out pink and rosy on the other side, we celebrate and cherish each day with you, knowing that tomorrow could bring new challenges and fears. To those of you who have experienced the loss of your precious baby, I have no words of comfort; saying that I'm sorry for your loss does not even begin to adequately cover the depth of my empathy. 

I can say this, though: Once a Liver Momma, always a Liver Momma.

Please keep baby Piper and baby Riley and their families in your thoughts. Piper underwent a Liver Transplant several days ago with complications. She is not receiving adequate blood-flow to her extremities and has been re-listed as status 1A (the very highest) for a new liver. 
Riley is in very critical condition after receiving her 2nd liver transplant and was not expected to make it through the night the other night but, somehow, she has pulled through thus far.