In Memory - Olivia
After her first heart transplant, Olivia began to thrive just as a normal healthy little girl would.
However, In February 2004, Olivia fell ill and returned to SickKids with heart disease. She died waiting for a second heart transplant. Olivia's parents are comforted knowing that Olivia touched many lives in her short time and that her memory has been kept alive through sharing her story.
Original Story
Olivia looked healthy when she was born in November 2001. But there were serious hidden problems. Her tiny heart was riddled with holes. She also suffered from pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary hypertension. A transplant was her only hope for survival.
When she was just three months old, Olivia was flown from her home town of Thunder Bay to The Hospital for Sick Children, where she was put on a waiting list for a new heart.
Her parents, Jennifer and Mario, waited anxiously as her lungs began to fail. Olivia was put on life support, an option doctors said might keep her alive for only few weeks at most.
Fortunately, Dr. Lori West, a cardiologist and transplant immunologist at SickKids, had recently discovered that unlike adults, infants can receive a heart from a donor with a different blood type, because their immune systems aren't fully developed and they lack the antibodies that cause hyperacute rejection.
Six weeks after Olivia's arrival at SickKids, a heart of a different blood type became available.
"I'm scared, but at the same time, she's in the best hands, anywhere in the world. That feels awesome," her mother, Jennifer, said just before the surgery.
Just a few years ago, Olivia would likely have died waiting for a heart of the same blood type. But now, thanks to Dr. West's discovery, children like Olivia are alive today and waiting list deaths have dropped from close to 60 per cent to just seven per cent. The protocol has now been adopted and successfully carried out for a number of patients in other countries.
The Hospital for Sick Children is one of the world's leading paediatric academic health sciences centres, and performs about 80 per cent of all paediatric heart transplants in Canada.
As a result of Dr. West's research and discovery, fewer donor hearts are wasted and more lives are being saved. Dr. West's work has offered new hope for babies awaiting heart transplants and challenged current clinical thinking about the human immune system.
Life-saving work such as this would not be possible without the generous contributions of donors who support SickKids Foundation. HOW CAN YOU HELP?
There are many ways to help the life-saving work at The Hospital for Sick Children. Support at any and every level helps propel everything we do for thousands of children like Olivia. Please give as generously as you can. Thank you!
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