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A Greek father has donated part of his liver to his 11-month-old daughter for transplantation surgery performed at a Turin hospital following two unsuccessful operations in Greece.
The child’s transfer to Italy for its surgical procedure at Turin’s Le Molinette hospital was facilitated through a collaboration between Greece’s National Transplant Organization (EOM) and a corresponding Italian entity, CNT, based in Rome.
The transplantation, deemed essential as the child was born with severe cirrhosis of the liver, biliary atresia, a childhood liver disease, and dysplasia, is the first liver transplant from a living donor to be carried out in northwestern Italy’s Piedmont region.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera described the operation as a “Christmas miracle.”
The Turin hospital reportedly agreed to take on the 11-month-old girl after Greece’s National Transplant Organization contacted CNT, the Italian transplant organization.
The child’s 31-year-old father volunteered to donate a portion of his liver after the hospital in Turin faced delays in locating a suitable donor.
The two surgeries – the removal of a portion of the father’s liver and its transplantation into the child – were performed simultaneously during a six-hour procedure.
The child remains in intensive care, where doctors are optimistic about a positive recovery. [AMNA]