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Letter to the editor

A donated liver gives 1-year-old fighting chance

After an excruciating wait, Savannah Anselmo receives a transplant.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET, Times Staff Writer
Published January 4, 2008

RIVERVIEW 

Savannah Anselmo's toes are pink. Her eyes are white. Tubes pump food and morphine into her tiny body.

A cell phone rang early Saturday morning with the message that the 1-year-old's parents longed to hear. It was time.

Another baby had died, giving the Riverview couple's child a chance to live.

Surgeons at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia successfully completed the liver transplant later that day, nine months after doctors said the baby would need a new liver to survive.

Her parents, Robert and Ana Anselmo, had turned their lives upside down to help their baby fight a rare liver disease, biliary atresia. Brandon & South Shore Times featured their struggle in an October story.

They regularly checked her body for bruises and tracked every diaper change. They rushed to the emergency room when she was sick and flew across the country to meet with doctors.

They watched her skin and eyes turn yellow. They learned that more than 90,000 families were waiting, like they were, for a donated organ to save a loved one's life.

Now they are waiting by Savannah's side in the hospital. Watching her wince as doctors and nurses examine her. Comforting her when she cries. Humming to keep her calm.

"Everyone's doing great so far," Savannah's aunt, Carolina Peraza, said Monday. "Every time they do a sonogram, they keep getting good news. Everything looks perfect."

On Monday, Savannah left the hospital's pediatric intensive care unit.

But she will remain in the hospital for at least three weeks while doctors and nurses monitor her condition.

After the transplant surgery, doctors reminded Robert and Ana Anselmo that transplant patients are at risk for infection and other complications. They said the family's roller coaster ride had just begun.

"At least we're on the roller coaster," Ana Anselmo replied.

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 661-2454.

For more updates on Savannah's progress, go to www.cotaforsavannaha.com.

[Last modified January 3, 2008, 08:18:15]