Brave mother risks death to save sick son

Sarah Lamont, from Ballymena, Northern Ireland is living proof that a mother will literally give anything to their child. 

Risking her own life, she underwent a double organ donation to save her little boy, Joe. 

Diagnosed with two aggressive organ diseases before his first birthday – polycystic kidney disorder and congenital hypatic fibrosis, a form of liver disease – doctors were worried that he wouldn't survive without a transplant. 

His kidneys were so enlarged they took up his whole abdomen and crushed his lungs, meaning that both his kidneys were removed when he was just days old and he was put on dialysis.

 Worried that Joe was “missing a huge part of his life”, Sarah took matters into her own hands and offered herself as a donor. 

“We waited for the call to come and it never did,” she told Barcroft TV.

“Then I thought, ‘If I can give a lobe of my liver, and Joe can receive a kidney, why can I not give both?' I’m so glad that I can help my little boy. It’s an amazing feeling.”

In January 2017, Sarah donated a lobe of her liver and then donated a kidney just months later. 

For the transplant Joe was admitted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, while Sarah was admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

Surgeons removed Sarah’s kidney which was then transported the four miles via ambulance to surgeons ready to give it into Joe.

Both are now doing well, with Joe's quality of life dramatically improved. 

“I’m just so glad I was a match," Sarah said. "Because I think something would’ve happened if not. He could have died.

“Joe is doing amazingly. He’s grown a lot and has so much energy now. You wouldn't recognise him.”

Mums truly are superheroes when it comes to fighting for their children and Sarah is a fantastic example of this.