Boy Gets a Liver Transplant
A 7-year-old boy from El Salvador with a fatal liver disease was recuperating Friday at Childrens Hospital after successfully receiving part of his mother’s liver.
The surgeon, Dr. Yuri Genyk, said the eight-hour operation Thursday night went well, and that Juanito Rodriguez and his mother, Evelyn, who underwent a six-hour operation earlier in the day, were in satisfactory condition.
Childrens Hospital donated the surgery. More than $25,000 in donations was raised for recovery and medicine by a nonprofit organization, Fondation Angel de la Communidad, and by KVEA-TV Channel 52.
Genyk said the boy would remain hospitalized about two weeks and his mother, who is at County-USC Medical Center, would remain there six days.
The surgeon said that to receive continuing care with anti-rejection medications, Juanito needs to remain in the United States. His parents have legal residency here, and he lives with his two siblings and their grandmother in El Salvador.
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