FOR most people going through one transplant can be a heart-wrenching ordeal but Katy Whalley is facing the prospect of it happening for a second time.

The mother-of-two, of Cleater Street, Dalton, is in need of a new liver, as her body has rejected a donated organ almost three years on from a transplant.

CLICK HERE TO BECOME AN ORGAN DONOR

The 42-year-old was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a rare autoimmune disease, in 2008, and underwent a liver transplant at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle in March 2014.

It was a procedure that Katy had hoped would change her life.

However, in recent months she noticed the same symptoms as before return such as yellowing of the skin, itchiness, stomach pain and tiredness.

She has since received the devastating news that the liver needs replacing again.

"I always knew it wasn't a cure but I didn't focus on it happening again," says Katy, a clerical officer at Furness General Hospital.


Katy Whalley. "My first worry is my children. They are always my first consideration and how they are going to react.

"I'm quite a practical person so I was thinking about my work, child care - those thoughts go through your head."

PSC is believed to affect about one in 20,000 people and the cause is still a mystery to doctors.

The disease leads to the bile ducts being inflamed and scarred, but medicines can manage and reduce some of the pain without the need of going under the knife.

Transplants are required in advanced cases when the liver function has progressed to failure. This is effectively the only 'cure' for PSC, but it comes with a high risk of the disease returning in the new liver, which is exactly what has happened in Katy's case.

She says: "I found it a little bit harder to deal with mentally because you think this is the second one.

"It's just a matter of waiting for the call and touch wood I'm not waiting a long time."

Katy hoped the liver transplant would relive the worst of her symptoms, although she was under no illusions that the operation would bring an end to all of the problems.

She is required to take about 30 anti-rejection and suppressant tablets each day and is now waiting for an organ to become available for a second procedure, which would again be carried out at the Freeman Hospital.

Last time the operation to replace Katy's failing liver took nine hours and the family had to race to Newcastle for the transplant from their holiday at Centre Parcs in Penrith.

Katy recalls: "It was our last day and we were packing when I got the call so it was kind of freaky because we were nearer Newcastle and nearer the hospital than we would normally have been.

"It does dawn on you that the day you've been waiting for has come.

"When I was in Newcastle they told me there was a possibility I'd need another transplant and they were really helpful. They don't gel as they call it."

RELATED ARTICLE: Kidney donation changes Bootle man's life beyond recognition

READ MORE: Cumbrians encouraged to sign up as organ donors in NHS bid to save lives


Eve Whalley. Katy's 15-year-old daughter Eve is doing all she can to raise awareness of the importance of people registering as organ donors, now her mother is beginning the wait for a liver again.

The Dowdales School pupil has signed up to become an organ donor and has visited doctor surgeries to hand out leaflets and put up displays. She's even convinced some of her friends to sign up and wants to set up talks and assemblies in school.

She says: "It's something I wanted to do. There are so many people who don't understand it or say they would [donate] and haven't registered.

"People have questions and concerns and have just not bothered to look it up. There's so much information out there.

"I would like to get a petition for the opt-out system.

"One donor can save or transform up to nine lives so if by doing this I can get an extra 10 people then it's 90 lives that could be saved possibly."

Katy shares the same opinion and is encouraging everybody to take a couple of minutes out of their day to sign up to the organ donation register.

She says: "I think it's because you physically have to do it and people might be busy and don't get round to it. That's why opt-out I think it's a good idea."

After her transplant in 2014, Katy and Eve wrote to the family who consented to their loved one donating their organs to her. It was a liberating process for them both.

Katy now has mixed feelings on going through the operation again as she knows that, if successful, it will give her a better quality of life. But she is wary of getting her hopes up as it runs the risk of complications developing again.

She says: "I try and be a positive person.

"My friends say 'you've done it once, you can do it again.'"

Facts about PSC

- PSC is a chronic liver disease in which the bile ducts inside and outside the liver reduce in size due to inflammation and fibrosis. The blockage causes bile, which breaks up fat from the food we eat, to accumulate in the liver.

- Symptoms can vary from person to person and include fatigue, abdominal pain, itching, jaundice, shaking, and episodes of fever.

- PSC is not related to alcohol in any way and the cause is unknown. Studies suggest the disease may be related to a bacteria or virus in people who are genetically programmed to get the disease.

- There are two male patients affected by PSC to every female patient, and it is most commonly found in young adults.

- Medications can improve liver function and bind bile salts.

- Liver transplants are advised when medical treatment can no longer control symptoms and patients get advanced cirrhosis.

- There are very high survival rates after transplantation, but the same PSC symptoms can recur in the new liver in some cases.

To join the NHS organ donor register go to organdonation.nhs.uk or call 0300 123 23 23.