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SALT LAKE CITY — It’s the first Christmas for 22-month-old Aspen Erickson after her life-saving liver-kidney transplant — the smallest transplant of its kind ever on record.
When she underwent surgery this past June, Aspen weighed just 17 pounds. She was gravely ill and running out of time.
“It was really scary,” said Auchelle Daniels, Aspen’s mother. “She actually had a seizure and she was intubated. She had a breathing tube and she was on dialysis and her kidneys started failing.”
Born with Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, an inherited disorder that causes liver disease, a transplant was her only chance.
Doctors at Primary Children’s Hospital performed the six-hour surgery using magnifying glasses and smaller tools. Initially, they didn’t realize her surgery would make history, as the recipient of the world’s smallest liver-kidney transplant.
Aspen's successful surgery also opened the door to more tiny transplants like hers.
“It is so rare to have a child so small requiring a combined liver-kidney transplantation. There are technical challenges and medical challenges,” said Dr. Robin Kim, chief of liver transplantation at Primary Children’s Hospital.
"Alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) deficiency is an inherited disease in which a protein known as A1AT is unable to be released from the liver into the blood in adequate amounts. This causes a deficiency of the A1AT protein in the circulation. ... When the A1AT protein is deficient in the circulation, tissue inflammation and tissue damage is more severe, especially in the lungs. The defective A1AT protein that remains in the liver may cause liver inflammation (hepatitis) that can progress to cirrhosis (permanent liver scarring) and liver failure."
-Source: John Hopkins Children's Center
Now Aspen is running, climbing and playing with her favorite toys. Her future is bright and doctors expect her to live a full and healthy life. She can even play sports one day if she wants to.
“She’ll be able to go to school,” Kim said. “She’ll develop and grow normally. We will follow her through her lifetime, but her life has changed.”
For now, little Aspen is trying to keep up with her big brother, Trayson, and help her parents decorate the Christmas tree. During our interview, her parents huddled on the couch close to her and wiped away tears of gratitude.
“She’s a lot happier,” Auchelle said. “Before the transplant it was hard to ever get her to laugh at all. We’d only heard her laugh one time. Now, she’s always laughing."
Email: hsimonsen@ksl.com
