Laken Dawdy was born on May 8th, 2023. After his eight week check-up his doctors noticed he had a severe case of jaundice. This eventually turned into what was diagnosed as Biliary Atresia. BA is considered a severely rare liver disease that only effects approximately 1 in every 15,000 children. There is not a known cause, but it is the number one reason for liver transplant in children. Biliary Atresia is a blockage in the bile ducts that carries bile to the gall bladder. His bile ducts from the inside and outside did not develop normally.
Laken had to endure so much during his first year of life. After being rushed to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, they had decided the best route to start off would be a biopsy of his liver to check the stiffness and undergo a cholangiogram (which injected dye into his liver to check the flow of bile from his liver to his gallbladder). After this was completed, the results showed that there was ZERO flow leading to the diagnosis of Biliary Atresia. Laken was in stage 3 liver failure during this time frame. From there the doctors scheduled a surgery called the Kasai Procedure. This procedure aided in helping the flow of bile from his liver into his small intestines. They removed his gallbladder and sewed his small intestines onto his liver in hopes of any bile flow. This procedure was considered a success even with a 80% failure rate.
The family was released from the hospital after a three week stay and little did they know their lifestyle would be changing DRAMATICALLY. With Lakens immune system being compromised and the countless medicine he is on every day, it is important for him to stay virus or illness free. However, it is a hard goal to achieve being that Laken has a 5 year old brother and both parents who were working at the time. After battling Ascites, a condition that can develop in children with BA which causes a build up of fluid in the abdomen and increases the risk of infection. It is also a result of portal hypertension which raises blood pressure in the veins that carries blood from the intestines to the liver. In December of 2023, Laken ended up with a blood infection that turned septic, which led to him being life flighted from Victoria to Texas Children’s in Houston. One week later after New Years, Laken came down with the Flu. With as much as he has gone through in these past few months, the doctors decided to put a central line into his chest because his liver went into STAGE 4 failure. Since January, he has been on 24/7 TPN and Lipids, with now being diagnosed hypoglycemic, to provide the nutrients his body needs to survive.
The doctors made the hard decision to put Laken on the UNOS transplant list. Since then the family is awaiting for a liver transplant and has to have weekly check up appointments to make sure Laken’s labs are stable and his dressings are clean to prevent infection. The family has partnered with COTA to assist with a lifetime of transplant-related expenses.
The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy children and young adults. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.