Mum tells of Xmas heartbreak

liver411

Mum tells of Xmas heartbreak



Dec 23 2001

By Martyn Leek, Sunday Mercury



  

The mother of critically-ill baby Rebecca Peacock has revealed her heart-breaking Christmas wish to find a liver donor for her dying daughter.



Helen told the Sunday Mercury that she is praying for the most precious gift of all to save her baby - whose condition is fast deteriorating.



Rebecca, who will be five months old on Thursday, is being treated at Birmingham Children's Hospital.



She needs a donor organ after being born with congenital liver disease - but it must come from someone weighing six stones or less for a transplant to be a success.



Parents Helen and Guy Peacock, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, are maintaining a 24-hour vigil at the bedside of the tiny tot who weighs just 6lbs.



Rebecca was born in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in July. Initially, she was given just weeks to live, but doctors have been amazed by her battling spirit to survive.



But time is fast running out. Dad Guy, 37, who runs a double-glazing firm, said: "eople ask me what life is like at the moment and I tell them to think of your worst nightmare and multiply it by a million.



"When your daughter smiles at you, despite how ill she is, it is simply heartbreaking. We need to find a suitable donor now."



Last night, Helen, 28, wrote an open letter to Sunday Mercury readers in a last desperate bid to find a donor.



Here is what she had to say:



"Rebecca has never seen the sky, the trees or the birds.



"I tell her everyday how beautiful life is outside so she knows there is something to live for. "I'm looking forward to next summer where my dream is to have Rebecca fit and well, sitting in the paddling pool with her brother Jack, having all the fun she deserves.



"My children are my life, and I just want us to be a normal, happy family at home again.



"After three miscarriages, my children are more precious to me than anything. They were very much planned and very much wanted - they are mine and my husband's world.



"Rebecca has just spent 10 days in intensive care desperately ill. She had to go on a ventilator because she couldn't breathe for herself. The doctors were convinced that we were going to lose her.



"It was dreadful. I couldn't even cuddle her - but she battled through again.



"Doctors are amazed by the strength she finds from somewhere. She is amazing and so brave.



"Rebecca desperately wants to live and she has come through so much that she shouldn't have done - you can see the determination in her eyes.



"But however hard she tries now, she cannot make her liver better and that is heartbreaking.



"She needs someone to help her soon or it will be too late - and that thought is unbearable.



"The strain this puts on you is immense. Normal life has stopped. Christmas would have been so special this year because her brother Jack is just starting to understand it all. He is nearly three years old and it would have been so special with Rebecca there, too.



"It will be special in a different way this year because if Rebecca is still with us - as we hope with all our hearts she is - that will be the biggest and most precious Christmas gift ever.



"If Rebecca gets a liver for Christmas, it will be the best Christmas miracle ever.



"I realise that to save my daughter's life, someone else would have to suffer a dreadful loss. What can I say to someone who is in the situation where they could donate organs?



"I cannot begin to imagine what they must be going through, and the idea of organ donation must be an added pressure. But they could save Rebecca's life. Without a new liver, she will die soon.



"If someone donates an organ then something good could come out of something so dreadful, and Rebecca could have life. "She is desperately hanging on and needs someone's help quickly. There would never be a big enough way to say thank you.



"If there is someone out there who can help, please do - before it's too late."