Case study: 'We waited for a match. Then got the call'

TEN-YEAR-OLD Craig Watt, from Dunfermline, in Fife, had a liver transplant aged just ten months, and his family have told his story as part of the campaign.

Craig was born with a rare condition called biliary atresia in which the common bile duct between the liver and the small intestine is blocked or absent.

Parents Lynn and Iain were devastated when doctors gave them the news that their son had suffered liver failure and urgently needed a transplant.

Admin and credit control worker Lynn said: "When Craig was born it was a natural birth, there were no complications and we left the hospital with what we thought was a healthy baby boy.

"When the whites of his eyes turned yellow we took him to the GP and were immediately referred to the Sick Kids Hospital. That was when we realised how serious his condition was."

Craig underwent a procedure to try to unblock his bile duct, but it was unsuccessful and he was put on the transplant waiting list.

The mother-of-four added: "We were at home waiting for a match for his liver. One day we got the call. Everything happened so quickly. Craig received his transplant at just ten months old and so far he has never looked back; to look at him you would never know."