Mother Gives Daughter The Gift Of Life With Organ Donation

CHICAGO, IL — This Mother's Day, a local mom is receiving the best gift a parent could ever ask for: a second chance at life for her child. She donated part of her liver to her daughter, who has a rare liver disease. Arnela Hadzic, 21, received the transplant two weeks ago at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

"This meant the world to me not just because it’s my mom, but also because it’s another chance at life," Hadzic said. "I felt that we were always close, but now we’re even closer."

Hadzic received a transplant from a deceased donor when she was 7 years old, but it was failing. She said having living donor made a huge difference.

"I had a much better recovery the second time around," Hadzic said.

Suada Hadzic had been watching her daughter suffer, and asked to be tested. She said she was overjoyed when the transplant was successful, and hopes her story will inspire others to give the gift of life.

"There's more than 16,000 patients in the U.S. waiting for a liver transplant," said Dr. Juan Carlos Caicedo with Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "We can only do 6,000 transplants per year because there aren't enough organs."

He said nearly 3,000 people die every year waiting for a transplant.

"The mortality rate on the waiting list for liver transplantation is almost 20 percent in Illinois — that means almost one in five patients dies every year," he said.

Caicedo said there is often a misconception that liver donors don't live normal lives after surgery.

"You can donate 60 percent of your liver, and in two or three months, it will grow back, and it will be almost as big as before the donation," Caicedo said. "The liver is the only organ that can regenerate, and sometimes people don't know that."

Caicedo and the Hadzics urged other people to consider being living donors.

Photo courtesy of Hadzic family; Northwestern Memorial Hospital