Intestinal Transplant Gives Eleven-year-old New Zealand Girl a New Lease of Life

Eleven year old Matisse Reid from New Zealand, received an intestinal transplant last year at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. This has been a life-changing event for her, as she can now eat food without the fear of pain or vomiting. The double blessing is a newly acquired taste for different kinds of food as well as a keen interest in cooking.

Matisse was suffering from idiopathic intestinal pseudo obstruction, which hampered digestion of food. Eating would cause her severe pain and vomiting.

The family moved to United States for her treatment and doctors said that she needed a transplant to survive. A transplant surgery was performed where Matisse received only the small and large intestines in a 12-hour surgery at Children's in December 2010. It took a few months before her stomach began working.

Prior to the transplant, the little girl could not eat without throwing up food. Now that she can relish and digest food, she has turned her love of food into a profession by landing a job as a Kid Food Editor for Cooking Light magazine. In this role, she will be publishing a recipe and comments for a column in the monthly publication.

Her recovery has been marvelous making her parents wonder at the perfect timing of the life altering transplant that changed her life from being a sick child to an active one.



Source: Medindia