Britain’s youngest liver transplant patient celebrates a milestone birthday

Lottie Bryon-Edmond was given just hours to live after being born with a rare condition which gave her toxic levels of iron in her liver.

She went straight to the top of Britain’s transplant list and clung to life for five weeks until a suitable donor was eventually found.

The odds of finding a suitable donor for Lottie were incredibly slim - with just five a year usually coming forward from children who have passed away.

Amazingly, Lottie’s new liver came from a living donor, whose parents are believed to have come forward after reading about the baby’s desperate plight.

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Lottie underwent the lifesaving eight-hour operation at Birmingham Children’s Hospital at just five weeks old.

The delicate procedure itself offered only a 50 per cent survival rate but Lottie managed to pull through, becoming the youngest person in Britain to live after a transplant.

Her family’s ordeal was worsened last year when violent riots swept through the country, leaving the hospital in lockdown - preventing Lottie’s parents from being with her overnight.

Proud father Chris Byron-Edmond, 48, from Torquay, Devon, said he was “delighted” his “little miracle” had reached the milestone they feared she would never see.

“We were told our child was going to die but Lottie defied all the odds. She is extremely feisty and that's what has saved her.

He added: “Lottie has reached a massive milestone. She is doing fantastically. She’s very vocal, if she wants something you jolly well know about.”

Lottie had the rare condition neonatal hemochromatosis which caused toxic levels of iron to accumulate in her liver as she was developing in the womb.

Doctors warned she could die at any time when she was born seven weeks prematurely at Torbay Hospital in Devon on 6 July last year.

She was rushed to Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, before being taken to Bristol and then Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Lottie went on the transplant list and her parents faced an anxious 15 day wait until a donor came forward last August.

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Surgeons in Birmingham then performed the operation using an extremely rare donor from a live organ.

“We were told our child was going to die. We were told she wouldn't make it on the journey to Bristol hospital, but she made it and she was smiling when we got there,” said Chris.

“We were told she wasn't going to make it once we got to Bristol, and then once at Birmingham we were told she only had two weeks to live.

“But 15 days later, an anonymous donor came forward.”

Financial advisor Chris and wife Julie, a sales manager, were prevented from being at their daughter’s bedside because of threats from rioters.

“It was very surreal - there we were with a little baby dying and then there was helicopters and spot lights and smoke burning. It was a very frightening time,” Chris added.

Chris and mum Julie, who have nicknamed their daughter ‘Chip’, set up campaign Operation Chip-BE, to encourage more people to become organ donors.

They will celebrate their daughter’s first birthday at a grand party with hundreds of friends, family, their local MP and nurses from Birmingham, Bristol and Torquay.

Family friend and Devon musician Nick Tilley has written a song describing the tot’s brave fight for life, called ‘Lottie's Song - A Gift for Life’.

Both the party and song, which is available on iTunes, are to raise awareness of National Transplant Week, which begins on Monday.

Delighted Julie said she was left “crying all weekend” after first hearing the single about her special girl.

“Everybody loves her and she really is such a sweet little girl - she never stops smiling. To get through what she has been through is just amazing. She is really wonderful,” Julie said.

'Lottie's Song - A Gift for Life' will be available to download on iTunes, Amazon and all major download sites today (Sat).

For more information about the campaign please visit: Chip-BE