It’s not a matter of if 14-year-old Zoe Smith will need a liver transplant, but when.
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The Corowa teenager has biliary atresia – as a baby, the bile ducts in her liver didn’t develop normal openings.
Zoe’s father, Neil, said it was a shock when his daughter was diagnosed with the rare condition.
“When she was about 10 weeks, we took her to the paediatrician in Albury and they told us we had three hours to get to Melbourne,” he said.
“They told us it was this thing called biliary atresia which means she doesn’t have any biliary tracks.
“She was born without a gall bladder and her liver wasn't connected to her stomach.”
Mr Smith said Zoe underwent preventative surgery straight away.
“It either works or it doesn’t – it can work well, just, or not at all,” he said.
“They get a bit of bowel and hook it up from the liver into the stomach and hope the bile drains.”
To Mr Smith’s relief, Zoe's operation went smoothly – but that didn’t mean she would be in the clear.
“It’s just monitoring form here – at some point in time, it’s going to stop working and the liver will fail and she has to have a transplant,” he said.
“We want to raise awareness for organ donation and for people to have conversations.”
Zoe and three of her closest friends have become the driving force behind an awareness campaign at Corowa High School.
It saves lives, it could save mine one day.
- 14-year-old Zoe Smith
Zoe, along with fellow year 9 students Ebony Phibbs, Brooke Dutton and Matt Dutton, all 14, handed out forms for the Australian organ donation register and organised for Wangaratta nursing donation specialist Catherine Chanter to speak to the school.
“We have one fundraiser a term so we decided to get the word out and make this one for organ donation,” she said.
“We asked for a day where we could talk about why organ donation is important.”
Principal Chris Johnston said, as a direct result of the students’ efforts, he made a decision to incorporate organ donation as a topic into the school’s health and education classes.
For Zoe, living with biliary atresia will always be a challenge, but she takes comfort in knowing she has made a difference.
“I’m scared one day when I have my transplant I won’t wake up – sometimes I have a bit of a cry,” she said.
“I just hope people will become organ donors because it can save lives … it could save mine one day.”
Read more information about registering as a donor
