(Image courtesy of Bridget O'Neill)
After being widely shared across social media and the radio and television airwaves, a match “right at home” has been found for a New Jersey baby girl needing a liver transplant, the infant’s mother announced.
For weeks, the O’Neill family from Red Bank has been searching for a living donor to their 3-month-old girl, Edie, who has been hospitalized at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia due to a liver disease.
But in order to donate, the person must be between 21- and 30-years-old, have A positive/negative or O positive/negative blood type, and weight 100 pounds or less.
Last Saturday, the family announced that three prospective donors were found, and today — “after searching far and wide across the country” — a donor was found in Edie’s family, according to a Thursday Facebook post by her mother, Bridget O’Neill.
“Becky O’Neill will be donating a portion of her liver to Edie tomorrow and along with it literally giving our daughter a new lease on life,” she wrote. “At just 22 years old, Becky has made this selfless decision and has handled each step in the process with a poised confidence that is beyond admirable.”
O’Neill further stressed the importance of blood donations and registering as an organ donor.