6-month-old Emma Tucker is celebrating her first Thanksgiving this year, and her family has a lot to be thankful for.
Emma was born with Biliary Artesia, a liver disease that can affect one in nearly 18,000 newborns causing defects in the bile ducts.
Just a little over a month after she was born, Emma underwent her first surgery to treat her condition at Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem.
In the Kasai procedure, the infant’s defective bile ducts are replaced by the intestine.
A follow-up surgery was required shortly after the procedure and it was unsuccessful.
The only other option for Emma to live was a liver transplant.
“It’s terrifying,” her mother, Lauren Tucker said. “They have to talk to you and let you know what the complications are, and you hear that death is a possible outcome, you’re like ‘I’m sorry… Excuse me?’”
Emma’s fate was much more fortunate, despite a bit of a scare not long after her transplant at Duke Children’s Hospital.
“She actually did have some mild rejection,” Tucker explained. “Everything’s okay now.”
Less than two months since the life-saving surgery, little Emma is smiling more than ever.
“We knew she felt bad before her transplant, but I don’t think we realized how bad she felt because since then she laughs, and she smiles [more]”
And her big resilience in such a little body, has been encouraging for her parents and family who now face the financial strain of the many medical procedures.
The Tuckers found hope for medical bill help from the Children's Organ Transplant Association, which offers fundraising assistance and family support to families who need it.
Emma’s COTA page is a form of GoFundMe only for medical expenses related to her transplant.
“The money, 100%, is always available to Emma for any of her transplant related expenses,” Tucker said.
Bills aren’t the only thing on the Tuckers’ minds: They thank and pray for Emma’s anonymous donor and their family, their faith helping them come to terms with it all.