My daughter, 2, was saved with just a fortnight to spare after we found a donor just in time – it’s a miracle

LIVER transplant tot Lola Rose Clyde — who had only two weeks to live before surgery — is hugged by sister Paisley Mae.

The two-year-old was said by surgeons to be close to death when her liver failed — but a donor was found just in time.

Mum Emily, 28, from Gainsborough, Lincs, said: “We didn’t realise how close we came to losing her. It’s like a miracle.

"The surgeon told us afterwards that she’d had about 14 days left to live if the liver hadn’t been found, and he actually had tears in his eyes as he was telling us.

"We feel so incredibly lucky that we still have her here today. "

Lola Rose was diagnosed at three weeks old with a condition called biliary atresia, where vital ducts in the liver at blocked.

Emily said: "She was fine for the first few weeks and we didn’t know anything was wrong.

"Then she started to look jaundiced and the health visitor came to see her and said she needed to go to hospital for tests.

"It was such a shock when she was diagnosed - we never imagined it would anything so serious.’

Lola Rose was operated on just a week later at Birmingham Children’s Hospital where doctors performed the Kasai procedure to try and rectify the problem.

But it failed, and in January last year doctors said she needed to go on the transplant list.

They decided to wait four weeks until she could have her childhood MMR vaccinations, but that wait almost cost Lola Rose her life, as she deteriorated rapidly over the next few weeks.

She was put on the urgent transplant list, and after three weeks a new liver was found for her.

Emily said: "It was a relief when they found her a new liver.

"No-one could have foreseen how waiting for the immunisations to be done would have proved nearly fatal for her."

But when doctors put her new liver in, Lola Rose lost so much blood during the transplant that she nearly lost her life.

Emily said: "The transplant was taking much longer than planned and we were panicking.

"The doctor came up to see us and told us that she’d had a bleed during the operation but it was under control.

"We didn’t know until afterwards that she’d actually lost all the blood in her body and her heart had stopped too so she’s had to be resuscitated.

"It had been touch and go whether she would survive."

Lola Rose was given several blood transfusions and managed to pull through.

Instead of taking just four hours, she was in the operating theatre for ten hours whilst surgeons battled to save her.

Eventually she was allowed up to the recovery room, much to the relief of her parents.

Emily said: "It was terrifying when we were told afterwards how close we came to losing her.

"It was so emotional when she was finally back in the intensive care unit with us."

Lola Rose made a recovery but was rushed back into hospital in November with a sepsis infection and spent two days in intensive care.

But now she is back at home with older sister Paisley Mae, four, and is recovering well.

Emily added: "She is doing really well now. She’s still got a feeding tube in at the moment, but she’s coming on in leaps and bounds.

"And she has a smile for everyone. We can’t thank the donor family enough for her gift of life."