Happy returns

A FIRST birthday is always a cause for celebration. But for the family of Aimee Fowler, it will be a very special day indeed. In their darkest hour, mum and dad Caroline and John, doubted whether their precious daughter would have reached such a landmark.

At five months old, Aimee was diagnosed with liver failure and put on a transplant waiting list. Just after Christmas she was admitted to St James's Hospital in Leeds, where she became the youngest patient to undergo such an operation.

What's more, it was an unusual procedure: Aimee received just one half of the donor liver - the remainder going to a man from Nottingham. It was the first time the specialist liver team at the hospital had carried out this rare surgery.

Aimee responded well to the transplant and after 19 days was allowed to return home to Holgate in York. John and Caroline were under strict instructions to keep her in isolation, to minimise the risk of her catching infections.

They had to learn how to insert feeding tubes through her nose and down her throat and get to grips with the medications she may have to take for the rest of her life.

But now, just one week before her first birthday, Aimee looks like any normal happy, healthy baby. She's a real smiler and her big blue eyes follow you around the room. "Inquisitiveness could be her middle name," says proud dad John.

And at last, things are beginning to resemble a normal family life for the Fowlers.

"We're able to go to the supermarket together," says Caroline with a laugh.

"And just last week we all went out for our first pub lunch," says John.

Such events seem mundane to most of us, but to the Fowlers they are monumental.

For most of Aimee's young life, she has been in and out of hospital.

Born eight weeks premature, Aimee wasn't allowed home until she was one month old. But within a few weeks she was back to hospital for a series of tests after doctors became alarmed by her jaundiced appearance.

She was admitted to St James's for a biopsy. John and Caroline will never forget the day they were told what was wrong with their daughter. It was September 6 - their wedding anniversary.

"They said it was probable biliary atresia which would lead to liver failure," said Caroline.

Biliary atresia is the absence or closure of the ducts that drain bile from the liver. The build up of bile causes rapid damage to the organ, leading to cirrhosis. Untreated, a child is unlikely to live beyond two years.

John and Caroline were told the only remedy for Aimee would be a liver transplant and that the wait could be up to 18 months. But it was only a matter of weeks before John received a call from the transplant co-ordinator to say that a potential donor liver had been found.

Those few hours in the lead up to the operation were the hardest to face, admit the couple.

After tests to ensure that Aimee was suitable for the transplant, nurses urged the couple to get some sleep. The operation was scheduled for seven the next morning.

"But it was impossible to sleep," recalls John. "There was so much going through our minds. We just kept talking."

The toughest time of all, says Caroline, was when they had to kiss Aimee goodbye as she was wheeled into theatre.

"Reality set in," says Caroline. "I just thought: 'this could be it. This could be the last time I cuddle her or hold her'. There were a lot of tears, although we tried to look strong."

After six and a half hours in surgery, the doctor emerged to bring them good news: the operation was a success, as good as he could have hoped for.

It was only afterwards that the couple learned of the unusual nature of the procedure. "I'm glad we didn't know before, it would only have been something else to worry about," says John.

Today, that worry has eased considerably.

John says doctors have assured them the split liver will regenerate and be able to function as normal.

Experts cannot predict how long a liver transplant should last. The first one took place in 1969 and that patient is still fit and well, says John.

Today, Aimee looks the picture of health. She's putting on weight and enjoying being out and about, making her first public appearances.

"It's great that when people stare at her now it's because she's cute and not because she is yellow," says Caroline.

The couple feel very strongly about the issue of organ donation.

"I think a celebrity should take up the cause and encourage more people to carry donor cards," suggests Caroline.

The Fowlers plan to write to the family of the 29-year-old woman from the Manchester area who was the liver donor.

"The transplant co-ordinator says we can write and thank them, but we want to give them time to get over it. Hopefully they have read some of the stories in the press about Aimee and realised what has happened," said Caroline.

There are a host of other people they want to thank too: their midwife, the medical teams at York and Leeds, their friends and families and their understanding bosses at the Mount Royale Hotel in York, where John is the restaurant manager and Caroline works in reception.

In the summer, Caroline plans to do a parachute jump to raise funds for the charity, the Children's Liver Disease Foundation.

But for now, there's a party to plan and a birthday cake to bake.

The Fowlers will celebrate Aimee's big day with Caroline's parents in Wakefield.

"It will be a double celebration," says Caroline. "Aimee's first birthday and her coming out party."