My little girl was dying from mysterious hepatitis until I saved her life

A DAD stepped in to save his little girl’s life, as she lay dying from a mysterious hepatitis outbreak.

Alan Raine went under the knife to give part of his liver to three-year-old Lola-Rose, as doctors gave her hours to live.

The youngster is one of dozens struck down by the puzzling global spread of a serious illness.

Hepatitis, an inflamed liver, is rare in healthy children – but in the last few weeks nearly 200 kids all over the world have become unwell.

One child has died, and 17 have had to have liver transplants to save their lives.

Little Lola-Rose had become ill, with her parents first thinking she had a stomach bug.

But they realised something more serious had hit her when the youngster’s eyes developed a yellow tinge.

She was rushed to hospital where scans showed her liver was struggling, and she was moved to a specialist unit.

Days later her liver began to fail, and she was put into a coma, with doctors telling her frantic parents she would die without a transplant.

Lola-Rose’s brain had swollen, due to her liver unable to filter out toxins, as she lay in intensive care.

Alan, 27, : “We were literally watching our little girl die in front of our eyes.

“I have no idea how else to explain it. It was like someone’s reached into your chest and torn your heart out. I was thinking ‘there’s nothing you can do’.”

He found out his liver was a match, before going in for a seven-hour surgery.

The dad said: “They could have told me I wasn’t going to survive the surgery and she was, and I would have gone straight ahead with it.

“All I was thinking is — she’s going to get better and we can help.”

She immediately started to get better, losing the yellow tinge to her skin and blood tests showed normal results within 48 hours.

Now, four weeks on from surgery, Lola-Rose is back to herself and recovered.

She will have to be on medication for the rest of her life to stop rejection of the donated liver.

Alan’s liver will regenerate and grow back to full size despite losing a chunk.

Hepatitis symptoms include:

• yellowing of the white part of the eyes or skin (jaundice)
• dark urine
• pale, grey-coloured faeces (poo)
• itchy skin
• muscle and joint pain
• a high temperature
• feeling and being sick
• feeling unusually tired all the time
• loss of appetite
• tummy pain

Around 190 new cases in children have been reported all over the world – with 114 in the UK.

It has spread to the US, Canada, Japan and Europe.

Currently scientists think the most likely cause is an adenovirus – common viruses that cause flu-like and gastro symptoms, and usually resolve without any lasting issues.

In kids they generally spark a mild illness, with liver inflammation (hepatitis) rare in healthy youngsters.

But on Monday it was revealed in a UK Health Security Agency report, experts think the adenovirus type 41F could be to blame.

There have been 114 cases reported in Britain since March alone – more than double a normal year’s worth.

Medics claim three-quarters of UK incidents are linked to adenoviruses, which normally cause colds, sore throats and eye infections.

But with many under-fives missing out on early exposure due to lockdown, experts fear they have now been left more susceptible to severe reactions.