In Pictures: A father's birthday gift to son - a new liver

Jeremy Guo was 22 months old when he underwent a 12-hour operation on Aug 1 to replace his damaged liver with a healthy slice from his father. Today, the two-year-old is bubbly and boisterous, having overcome biliary atresia, where the bile ducts carrying bile from the liver to the gall bladder are absent. The Straits Times was given exclusive and unprecedented access to document the life-saving procedure done by National University Hospital experts. Over a two-month period, Deputy Picture Editor Wang Hui Fen documented in pictures the trials and triumph of the Guo family.

Updated

Published

Oct 30, 2015, 11:51 AM

In this July 30, 2015, photo, 22-month-old Jeremy is held in his father’s arms two days before the liver transplant at NUH. His father, Guo Yang, is donating part of his liver to save his son’s life. Jeremy, his stomach bloated and skin jaundiced from liver disease, seemed oblivious to the pending operation. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Guo Yang spending a quiet moment with his son Jeremy at 6am on Saturday, Aug 1, 2015, before the both of them went into the operating theatre for the transplant. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Hours before going into the operating theatre, Guo Yang recounts the last two hellish years. Jeremy had to make multiple visits to the emergency room. He frequently fell sick, and the family had to be on high alert whenever he had a fever. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Anaesthetist Terry Pan administering the specified dosage on Jeremy minutes before his liver transplant at National University Hospital. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Dr Dale Loh, Senior Consultant, Department of Paediatric Surgery, National University Hospital (first from left), Professor K. Prabhakaran, Director of the National University Hospital’s Paediatric Organ Transplant Programme (fourth from left), were part of the team that performed the liver transplant. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Jeremy's diseased liver being removed. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Professor K. Prabhakaran, Director of the National University Hospital’s Paediatric Organ Transplant Programme, taking a closer look at Jeremy's diseased liver after it was removed from his body. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Dr Loh (first from left), Professor Prabhakaran (third from right) and the rest of the team preparing the donor liver which was to be transplanted into Jeremy, who was waiting at the operating table. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Part of Guo Yang's healthy liver to be transplanted into his son. In live-donor transplants, surgeons remove a recipient's diseased liver and replace it with part of the donor's healthy organ. Both the donor's liver and the donated section subsequently grow to full size. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

The entire procedure took 12 hours. The operation was complicated by Jeremy's earlier surgery, which had caused some scarring as well as adhesion between the liver, and abdomen and intestines. The most complex part - removing the diseased liver - took over eight hours. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Jeremy's mother, Maggie Yu (centre), looking at her child as he was wheeled out from the operating theatre. With her are her mother-in-law Yang Keqin, 59, and her sister Yu Da Yan, 35. Da Yan came to Singapore a few days before the surgery to help the family during this time. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Guo Yang and Jeremy, 25 days after the liver transplant. Jeremy is fit and getting ready to be discharged on Aug 26, 2015. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Jeremy playing with his medication while pharmacist Amanda Chang (second from left) explains how to dispense them to his mother, Maggie. Third from left is staff Nurse Bong Jia Yi. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Jeremy walking with his parents, Guo Yang and Maggie Yu, as they leave the National Univeristy Hospital on Aug 25, 2015 - 45 days after the transplant. He has to wear a face mask to avoid catching infections. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Jeremy picking at the fruits on his birthday cake while his parents are distracted. He celebrated his second birthday at his home in Bukit Merah on Sept 29, 2015. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

Jeremy, with traces of whipped cream from his birthday cake on his face, posing for a photo on Sept 29, 2015. He celebrated his second birthday after going through a successful liver transplant on Aug 1, 2015. ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN

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