Tuesday 23 / April / 2024
Muscat: Fatima, the first Omani woman to receive a liver transplant in the Sultanate, returned home to her loving family, and hugged her son Ahmed, who risked his life to save hers.
Ahmed donated 64 per cent of his own liver to his mum, who had been diagnosed with liver cancer.
Now Ahmed and the doctors who performed the operation at the Royal Hospital, are calling on others to do the same.
Ahmed bin Dawood Al Hadi, 39, a father of five, risked everything to give his mother the gift of life, and he has no regrets. “I would like to say to everyone who is able to donate their organs to do so, and I urge them to donate and help save lives. They should not be afraid and have trust in our health institutions as today these operations have less risk than before. There is nothing to worry about,” Al Hadi said.
“My mother returned to our home safe on Friday, and will now stay in an isolated room for several months until she gets better.”
“When I saw my mother coming back home and feeling better, I knew that I had made the right decision.”
Al Hadi added: “Thankfully, the liver transplant was successful, and hopefully it will put an end to the suffering of my mother because of her cancer. Donating part of my liver to my mother was a decision that I did hesitate to take.”
“At first, my mother refused to take the donation from me, because she was afraid, but she accepted it after the doctors reassured her that nothing bad is going to happen to me and they were ready for anything unexpected.”
“As soon as my mother woke up from the operation, I walked to her room with the help of the doctors to check on her and to reassure her about my health, which had a positive effect on how she felt later.”
He added, “Thanks to god, the liver has the ability to grow again and return to its normal size in a period of time not exceeding six to eight weeks, and studies have shown that 20 per cent of the liver is able to perform all the vital functions of the body.”
“You might not believe me, but I honestly didn’t feel any pain during the whole process.”
“At her last medical review on Sunday, we made sure that the patient Fatima was in a very good and stable condition and her liver functions perfectly,” said Dr. Nadia Al Harthy, consultant of Liver and Digestive Diseases.
According to Dr. Al Harthy, people wishing to donate their livers must be between the ages of 18 and 50 years and have good health.
Al Harthy added: “Before any organ donation, the donors must first educate themselves and ask about it. At the Royal Hospital, we receive those who wish to donate and answer their questions. We also arrange a meeting with previous donors so that they will be more assured.”
Dr. Ahmed Al Kindi, senior consultant of Liver Surgery at the National Liver Transplant Programme, and Dr. Sulaiman Al Maamari, consultant, Liver Surgery, both ensure before performing the operation that the donor undergoes several medical tests, the most important of which is to verify the matching of the blood type of the donor and the recipient, determine the size of the donor liver and make sure it’s in a good condition, as well as conducting
comprehensive tests on the donor to clarify that he doesn’t have any chronic or infectious diseases.
