Saskatoon parents waiting on life-saving organ donation for their baby
Megan Crawley has spent many sleepless nights waiting for a call that could save her baby’s life.
“Any time the phone rings you wonder who it’s going to be,” Crawley said.
Her daughter, seven-month-old Emma, has a rare condition called biliary atresia, which means bile does not drain from her liver.
Emma started showing symptoms when she was about one month old. Her doctor said she needed to go to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital.
“Within that first day we went from just walking in, expecting it to be something minor, to it being a very serious life-long condition,” she told CTV News.
Due to complications, Emma may need a multi-visceral transplant, meaning another family would have to donate organs after their child dies. (Courtesy: Megan Crawley)
Shortly after doctors referred her to Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton for a liver transplant.
Crawley said after putting out a Facebook post, nearly 100 people offered to be a donor, but then the gut-wrenching reality sank in.
Due to complications, Emma may need a multi-visceral transplant, meaning another family would have to donate organs after their child dies.
“It’s a very complex feeling and situation, just because you know what it means for another family, that someone else has to lose their child,” she said.
Crawley knows what it’s like to be on the other end. She said when her cousin died a few years ago, he became an organ donor.
The Crawley family is raising money to help cover some of the costs of Emma’s medical care. (Courtesy: Megan Crawley)
“I was in the room with the family when the doctor announced there’s no brain activity, but all of his organs could be donated,” she said.
Meanwhile, Crawley said she hopes Emma can get a transplant as soon as possible. She noted that Emma is currently at the top of the pediatric transplant list.
“Our hope and our wishes for her is that she comes out of this alive and as healthy as possible,” she said.
The Crawley family is raising money to help cover some of the costs of Emma’s medical care. Crawley encourages others to register as an organ donor, because “it saves lives”.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Galen Weston pushes back on 'misguided criticism' of Loblaw as boycott begins
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston, as well as the company's new chief executive, pushed back on what they called 'misguided criticism' of the grocer as a boycott against the company gains steam online.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Quebec premier asks police to dismantle camp at McGill University
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has called on the police to dismantle the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the lower field of McGill University's downtown campus in Montreal.
Orangutan observed treating wound using medicinal plant in world first
Scientists working in Indonesia have observed an orangutan intentionally treating a wound on their face with a medicinal plant, the first time this behavior has been documented.
TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions
Canada's financial intelligence agency says it has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.
Doctors concerned about potential spread of bird flu in Canada
H5N1 or avian flu has been detected at dozens of U.S. dairy farms and Canadian experts are urging surveillance on our side of the border too.
This Canadian restaurant just lowered its prices. Here's how it did it
A Canadian restaurant lowered its prices this week, and though news of price tags dropping rather than climbing sounds unusual, the business strategy in this case is not, according to experts in the field.