A life-saving gift in the form of a new liver for eight-month-old Zoe Valkyrie Langlois is nothing shy of an early Christmas miracle for the little fighter who continues to defy the odds.
When Cayman Compass first wrote about her story in August, the then four-month-old had been diagnosed with a rare liver disorder called biliary atresia, which forced her family to seek treatment in the United States.
It’s been four months since then, and during that time the emotional and financial strain of splitting up their young family to pursue her treatment was made more difficult by the mixed results of the scores of medical procedures she has endured that ultimately culminated in a liver transplant.
An eight-month-old with a failing liver
“It’s not if she is going to need a liver transplant, it’s when she is going to need one,” Zoe’s mother Shayhnie Langlois told the Compass back in August.
Three months later, those words became a reality.
At the time, Zoe was in the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, in Florida, where she had completed a Kasai procedure – a delicate surgery to remove damaged bile ducts from her liver, which brought her to the brink of death.
The surgery was followed up by treatment of antibiotic drugs, which were pumped directly into one of her main arteries around the clock through an intravenous line.
“She was so pale, and she went practically one whole month without a single smile,” said Shayhnie. “It broke my heart to see her so weak.”
“I can remember looking into her eyes and seeing that this little baby has the will to live,” said Zoe’s father Nicholas, who has stayed with her in the US during her treatments, while Shayhnie remained in Cayman with their two-year-old daughter Lila.
When the initial surgery and medications failed, and Zoe’s condition worsened, she was transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital, also in Florida, where the process of finding her a new liver began.
“When they transferred her, the new doctors looked over her tests and results, and then did their own tests just to confirm,” said Nicholas.
“It was really frustrating at first because, as her mom, I just felt like she needed the transplant so let’s get her on the list ASAP!” said Shayhnie, as she spoke of her anxiousness. “But I kind of also understood there was a process that needed to be followed.”
A donor is found
As the doctors ran their tests, Nicholas and Shayhnie were busily arranging their affairs to assist with getting Zoe on the donors list and, eventually, they did.
“I’ve seen a few movies about this kind of thing and I remember thinking this could take weeks or even months,” said Nicholas.
It took a gruelling three weeks for them to get the news they desperately desired.
“When the doctors updated me, I called Shay, but I might have delivered the news badly,” said Nicholas, to which Shayhnie quickly replied, “Yes, he did!”
“I answered the phone, and he was silent, with tears running down his face, and the first thing I thought was ‘Oh my God, we lost her’,” she recalled.
Nicholas explains that at that moment he was overcome by a mixture of deep emotions that left him in silence.
“Eventually I was able to tell her that the doctors found a donor and they need us to sign the documents, while they rush to inspect the potential liver,” he said.
As the doctors raced across the country in an emergency medical jet, Shayhnie caught the next flight out of Cayman. Unfortunately, she arrived minutes after her daughter had been wheeled into the operating theatre.
Surgery time was slated for 7pm, but unforeseen complications pushed it back to 10pm.
“They said it was a very difficult and hard procedure, but that she [did] well,” said Shayhnie.
Nicholas, who paced back and forth, watched over his wife, who fell asleep after 1am out of sheer exhaustion and anxiety.
Two hours later, Zoe had pulled through the surgery and her new liver was responding well.
“It took me another two hours before I could finally fall asleep,” said Nicholas. “I remember thinking, wow, it really happened, she is going to be OK.”
Life in death
The melancholy reality of the source of Zoe’s new liver is not lost on her family.
“We know that in order for our child to live, someone else’s child had to die, and that is not an easy reality for us, and must be difficult and painful for the parents who lost their child,” said Shayhnie.
The donor’s identity was not released to Zoe’s family, and so they may never get to meet or thank them.
“But we hope they find peace in knowing that even though their child died, a part of them still lives on in our Zoe,” said Nicholas.
Nicholas and Shayhnie say that, while they have each found ways to cope with these stressful months, their strength has been bolstered by the outpouring of love and support from friends, family and even strangers who are all rooting for Zoe’s full recovery.
‘The best gift for Christmas’
Zoe has since been discharged from the hospital. However, she isn’t quite out of the woods just yet.
According to the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation, 75% of children with a liver transplant live to be 15-to-20 years old with “a good quality of life”.
For the next six months, she will need to do frequent blood tests, and the delay time for results in Cayman-based labs requires her to stay in the US, close to the hospital where her doctors can make any quick interventions that may be necessary.
Because she can’t make it back home to Cayman for her first Christmas, her family will be travelling to her.
“All of the COVID restrictions from a few years ago made it difficult for my parents, who are in Canada, to travel…,” said Nicholas. “Fortunately, they have met Lila, and now they will be travelling to Florida to spend Christmas with us.”
Shayhnie says her relatives also intended to travel to Florida, so both families could unite as one to celebrate both Christmas and Zoe’s victories thus far; however, financial constraints will prevent this gathering.
In parting words to the Compass, Shayhnie said, “Zoe getting discharged was the perfect gift for Christmas!”
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