A ‘chooty’ fighter and team of warriors win major battle
The tiny fighter has won a major battle between life and death and will be home this week. Dressed up in yellow and blue with socks sporting cute kittens, he is not just a fighter but also a poser giving a big smile for the camera!
Infant Kushan Adithya did not fight his battle for survival alone – he had warriors in the form of a multi-disciplinary team who along with his own Amma, M.L. Sandamini Nisansala (22), and Thaththa M. Dinesh Madusanka (24) backed him to the hilt.
All smiles: Baby Kushan and left, with his parents Dinesh and Sandamini. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
The first-ever liver transplant on an infant just five months old has been performed successfully in Sri Lanka……..and Kushan is the bugle player broadcasting this news.
Usually, such a liver transplant on infants (less than a year old), is a challenge and that is why there is rejoicing over this milestone at the Colombo North Centre for Liver Diseases (CNCLD), Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama.
The multi-disciplinary team comprised the liver transplant surgical team; the liver transplant anaesthetic team; the paediatric hepatologist, the interventional radiologist, junior doctors, nursing staff and support staff. This is while from the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) for Children, Colombo, came the paediatric anaesthetist and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Maharagama, the interventional radiologist, most willingly.
All smiles: Baby Kushan and left, with his parents Dinesh and Sandamini. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
In a major tribute, a team member, keeps reiterating that this was possible because of the gifting of the well-equipped CNCLD. (See box)
The CNCLD now has 24 paediatric liver transplants to its credit starting with nine-year-old S. Kishanu from Jaffna suffering from ‘chronic’ liver disease in July 2020 and including the first liver transplant for ‘acute’ liver failure in six-year-old Diluni Ahinsa from Kirindiwela, Gampaha, in September 2021.
The 24th is Kushan from a humble home in Puttalam, while a six-month-old who has had a transplant for acute liver failure after him is recovering in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Another child is awaiting a transplant shortly.
Sandamini from Mampuri, a small village in the Puttalam peninsula, and Dinesh were co-workers at the Raigam food processing company at Homagama. It was a workplace romance sealed by marriage and the birth of Kushan on March 17, this year (2024) brought much happiness and fulfilment.
However, illness dogged the baby boy – bouts of fever, yellowing of the eyes and skin and a stomach that was unusually big. The couple did seek medical help but were told that it was normal and to keep the baby in morning sunlight.
When he was four months, Sandamini and Kushan joined Dinesh in Homagama and it was at the Maternal-and-Child Health (MCH) Clinic run by the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) that they got an inkling that something was seriously wrong with their baby. Sent by the clinic to the Homagama Base Hospital, it had been Consultant Paediatrician Dr. Anoma Abeygunawardena who zeroed in on the devastating diagnosis.
“Akmavey ledak kiyala apita kiwwa (They said it was a disease of the liver),” says Sandamini, eyes brimming with tears.
Terrible though the diagnosis was, it came with hope and a referral to the CNCLD, where the team met and decided to venture into what had so far been uncharted territory for them – liver transplantation for a baby under the age of one year.
Kushan was heavily jaundiced (unnaturally yellow), had a distended tummy and was itching all over his body non-stop, crying incessantly with discomfort. His liver and spleen were enlarged, says the team member.
Biliary atresia in Kushan had been missed when he was younger, says the member, explaining that it is a rare disease of the liver and bile ducts indicated by jaundice and pale stools that start in the first 4-8 weeks of life. The biliary system is a network of channels and ducts through which bile drains from the liver into the intestines.When the system does not work, bile flow from the liver to the gallbladder is blocked, causing bile to build up in the liver. This results in damage and scarring of the liver cells (cirrhosis) leading to liver failure.
The ‘immediate’ need was a liver transplant, otherwise Kushan would die!
A chat by the team with the parents giving them the full picture followed with their consent to proceed with what was best for their precious “Chooty”.
A match was needed and Sandamini was perfect – she was thin and healthy and her blood group was compatible with that of Kushan. Preparations were intense, “godak lesthiwuna”, and gradually things fell into place.
September 6th was V-Day, with the whole process – harvesting part of Sandamini’s liver and removing the diseased liver of Kushan and implanting his mother’s liver section in him – took around 16 hours, as anxious Dinesh paced hither and thither.
Home the couple is headed with Kushan this week, while Dinesh holds poojas and Sandamini lights candles to bless the life-giving team and the philanthropic Omar family.
| A dedicated centre and team made it possible | |
Heartfelt appreciation goes out from each and every one on the team and the parents to the M.H. Omar family and Foundation for their donation of the state-of-the-art M.H. Omar Liver Care Facility – Colombo North Centre for Liver Diseases (CNCLD).This dedicated four-storey liver transplant centre with its dedicated team has facilitated the saving of lives including children.  The M.H. Omar Liver Care Facility and below, some members of the medical team with baby Kushan and his parents The ground floor includes a special children’s room with colourful animals on the walls and a small desk and chair for the little ones to play or paint while their parents discuss their condition with the doctors. The first-floor is the step-down unit with six isolation rooms; the second-floor is the ICU; and on the third floor is housed the twin operating theatres (OTs). The team also says “thank you” for the invaluable support extended by the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena, and their own Director Dr. Sampath Liyanage Ranaweera.
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