ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A Florissant, Missouri family is counting their blessings after their six-month-old baby had a successful liver transplant.
Baby Eden Hernandez was born in July 2023 to parents Sarah and Kevin and was a very happy baby – so much so she had nurses at St. Louis Children’s Hospital pop their heads in often, just to make her laugh.
But then Eden was jaundiced for a while. The parents went to a doctor for a weight check and blood test.
“The next day, he called us and said, ‘Hey, we need to go to Children’s Hospital for further testing,'” Sarah Hernandez said, “and then it really snowballed from there.”
In September 2023, Eden was diagnosed with biliary atresia. According to the American Liver Foundation , one in every 8,000 babies are born with this disease. There is no known cause. Without proper treatment, infants can develop cirrhosis within 6 months and liver failure within a year.
After the diagnosis, Eden needed surgery and underwent a Kasai procedure, which can slow or sometimes prevent the risk of cirrhosis and liver failure.