VANCOUVER – Fourteen-year-old Tessa Williams is hoping the generous offer from the sister of her deceased friend will save her life.
The Grade 9 student who lives in Black Creek, near Courtenay, was diagnosed with Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the summer and has already had surgery to remove two-thirds of her liver.
Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma is a very rare form of liver cancer and only strikes about 200 people annually worldwide.
WATCH: Tessa’s video to promote organ donation:
Tessa is currently on the BC Transplant list but now an offer from her friend Chelsea may be the answer she’s been waiting for.
Tessa’s 16-year-old friend Ciaran Martin was killed in a longboarding accident near his home in January. His mom decided to donate her son’s organs so six others could live.
“To turn around and need this, it’s just bizarre,” says Tessa’s mom Dawn McQuinn. “We’ve watched the horror of the family go through the donor process and now we’re on the other side of it.”
Ciaran’s sister Chelsea is the one who has stepped forward as a possible living organ donor for Tessa.
“Chelsea stepped up to the plate and said she would be an organ donor,” said Dawn. “We won’t really know for a number of weeks yet. We were first told a living donor would not work but when we contacted the surgeon he said yes it can be done, it’s just really complicated.”
Chelsea is undergoing tests now to see if she is a match.
Doctors would take part of Chelsea’s liver and Tessa’s liver away and Dawn said in a few months the organ would generate to its original size.
Dawn and Tessa are very moved by Chelsea’s offer but Dawn said she hopes a donor comes through on the BC Transplant list first.
“That family has been through an enormous amount of stress already,” she said. “I’m very anxious.”
To follow Tessa’s journey and her progress you can check out the Facebook page Tessa’s Journey. Friends have also set up a page to help Dawn and Tessa pay for all the expenses of getting treatment.
It only takes a few minutes to sign up to be an organ donor. You can sign up online at the BC Transplant website.
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