A Sarnia youngster is recovering in a Toronto hospital following a four-organ transplant operation his father also underwent more than 15 years ago.
A Sarnia youngster is recovering in a Toronto hospital following a four-organ transplant operation that his father also underwent more than 15 years ago.
Owen Wallis, 6, is recovering at Toronto’s Sick Children’s Hospital following a 12-hour liver, bowel, stomach and pancreas transplant operation in late July. The transplant was needed because of hollow visceral myopathy, a type of intestinal pseudo-obstruction that Owen’s father, Sarnia pharmacist Darryl Wallis, was also diagnosed with when he was a child.
“He’s doing fantastic,” Sandra Wallis, Darryl’s mother, said about her grandson Owen.
She said Owen’s recovery has gone even better than Darryl’s, who received his four-organ transplant at age 20 and had been fed intravenously for many years before his operation.
“Owen got really sick about three years ago” and his small intestine had to be removed, Wallis said.
“He was in the hospital for a month or two in London and they transferred him to Toronto after he was stabilized.”
The little boy went on intravenous feeding, like his father had, and eventually returned home to Sarnia, where he began school at age 4 at King George VI public school with a teaching assistant and the help of a nurse.
“Owen just accepted it,” Wallis said.
He was also listed for a transplant around that time.
Wallis said Darryl and Owen’s mother, Jamie, received a call July 28 that organs were available following the death of a young donor. They rushed Owen to Toronto for tests and then the operation.
“Within a few weeks, he was running around and doing somersaults,” Wallis said. “He’s just amazing. He’s climbing all over. … He’s back to himself again.”
Owen is expected to remain in hospital for two to six months. His parents have been staying there with him.
“He’s adjusting amazingly well right now,” Wallis said.
She said it took Darryl two years to fully recover from his transplant operation, although he did return to university eight or nine months later to complete his pharmacy degree.
“I think it’s just two miracles,” she said.
Some of the same doctors involved in Darryl’s transplant were there for Owen’s surgery, Wallis said.
“Some of them came back just to see how Darryl was doing,” she said.
“There’s people praying all over the world for Owen right now, and that’s really helpful,” she added. “I think God must have a plan for Owen.”
Wallis said she continues to encourage others to become organ donors.
A few years ago, Wallis wrote a book, Not What I Bargained For, about being the mother of four children, including two with serious medical conditions, and the role of faith in her life. One of her daughters was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
“The big thing now, when I do my book talks, is pushing organ donation,” Wallis said.
Information about organ donation can be found on the website of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, www.giftoflife.on.ca.