A nine year old girl has struck up a life-long bond with a woman who she shared a liver with, despite their differing ages and backgrounds.
The lives of Maya Parmer and 59 year old Linda Fraser were saved by a liver transplant eight years ago, which involved the pair sharing two parts of a single organ between them.
The Split Liver transplantation (SLT) operation sees one liver divided into two, so a smaller portion can be given to a child patient, while the larger part enables an adult to live.
From the age of one, Maya suffered from biliary atresia, a rare condition that causes liver damage in infants.
Mrs Fraser was diagnosed with chronic liver disease in 1995, seven years before Maya was born.
Maya’s mother Mona said, ‘When Maya was four, we explained to her that she was given a new liver and that she had shared it with Linda, whom we called her liver twin, and the description stuck.”
A few years later, Maya wrote a letter to Linda to mark the anniversary of their transplant operation and after meeting up at a celebration of transplantees, both have stayed in contact since.
Maya, who wants to be a photographer but also enjoys singing, dancing and acting, says: ‘Linda is my liver twin, because we had two parts of the same liver given to us. I’ve known her most of my life and I love seeing her. I’m excited because next year I’m going to meet her children for the first time. I hope that lots of other children and adults will be helped by the same operation we had.’
