A message from Shasta:

Yesterday was a hard day… Mia woke up after a long, sleepless night, in pain and full of frustration. My little warrior finally broke into silent tears as her big sister, Nyah, gently wrapped her arms around her. “I thought today would be another good day like yesterday, but it isn’t,” Mia whispered. And those whispered words lit a fire in my belly; I had my mission for the day. We walked, we iced, we warmed, we repositioned, we medicated, we cuddled…around 3:00 Mia turned a corner and we were finally able to celebrate the day.

Yesterday was a monumental day for many reasons. For one family, it was the day that they remembered saying goodbye to someone they loved. For our family, it marked the day that our sweet, blue-eyed baby was given the chance to live again.

Although Mia’s original transplanted kidney has reached the end of its term, it gave her 13 years of a life full of dance, laughter, friends, and adventure. Many don’t remember in all the hubbub of kidney transplant talk, that Mia also received a liver from her donor 13 years ago. A liver that functions so beautifully that we sometimes forget for a second that she even has a transplant.

13 years ago my baby was reborn. She was dying… literally dying in front of our eyes… and her life was saved through the selflessness of a donor and her family.

So yesterday, we celebrated Mia’s first donor and the new life she gifted, as we celebrated Mia and the new life Nyah has gifted.

Mia (left) and Nyah getting some fresh air on the 5th floor of UCSF Children’s Hospital. 

Mia and her mom, Shasta, 13 years ago after Mia’s liver and kidney transplant.