Pacifica Business Owner Rallies to Baby in Need of Liver Transplant

Lauren Wilson's 5-month-old daughter Makayla's life depends on getting a liver from a young donor.

But even if one is found, Wilson and her husband Richard Keltz do not have the $250,000 for a transplant.

The family had Medi-Cal insurance but they lost it because of a clerical error by an employee in Solano County Health and Social Services in Vallejo, Wilson said.

The Medi-Cal office called her today and Wilson said she hopes the family's insurance will be restored. In the meantime, her friend Norma Manabe, who owns Bay Area Shirt Designs and Embroidery with her husband in Pacifica, is making T-shirts, hoodies and rubber bracelets to raise money.

Wilson came up with the designs that include stars and crosses.

"They say 'Team Faith' and 'Have Faith'," Manabe said. Makayla's middle name is Faith.

The shirts, hoodies and bracelets are available at basde.net or by calling (650) 355-1001. A spaghetti feed fundraiser also is planned for March.

Wilson said her family knew Makayla had a cyst on her gall bladder when she was born on Aug. 1. Her gall bladder was to be removed within the next three to six months, Wilson said.

Makayla's abdomen was distended and she was in and out of a hospital between August and November.

"They said it was gas, but she stopped breathing once when she was laying on her back," Wilson said.

Wilson said she consulted a gastroenterologist in November. Makayla was admitted to Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center where her gall bladder and appendix were removed and her twisted large intestine was repaired.

Doctors did a liver biopsy and were to immediately send the sample to the hospital at Stanford or to UCSF Medical Center, Wilson said. The sample, however was never sent for analysis and remained at Kaiser for nine days, Wilson said.

"They never gave us a reason," Wilson said.

Makayla stopped breathing on Nov. 30 and was placed in an induced coma and on life support. She was transferred to Lucille Packard Children's Hospital where it was determined Makayla also was suffering from biliary atresia, a blockage in the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the gall bladder in infants and requires a liver transplant, Wilson said.

"It should have been caught four months ago," Wilson said.

Makayla's liver is failing and she has jaundice but she is no longer on life support, Wilson said.

"It's day by day," she said.

Doctors at Stanford's Lucille Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto where Makayla is being treated do not want a partial liver from a larger donor.

"My daughter needs a full liver. I'm praying for a miracle, but I can't pray for a full liver because that means a child has died," Wilson said.

--Bay City News

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