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Signs of liver failure: Selfless stranger saves Melbourne schoolgirl Evie Wagner life after she was given 48 hours to live

Watching her daughter’s chest rise and fall – with the help of machines – Natasha Wagner sat anxiously waiting for news of a liver that six-year-old Evie so desperately needed.

But when doctors came into the room announcing they had found a “match”, the mum was struck with fear.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: A stranger saved Evie’s life

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“The one they found was from a man in his 40s who had died of an aggressive brain tumor,” Natasha tells 7Life.

“So Evie would have a one-in-1000 chance of getting the same tumor.”

However, without the organ transplant, specialists gave Evie just 24 to 48 hours to live.

Without a new liver, Evie was given 24-48 hours to live. Credit: Instagram/ tashwagner

Natasha was left with two, terrible choices.

Pray that another liver would be found for her little girl within a day – or go ahead with the transplant and hope a brain tumor never emerged.

The Melbourne mum chose the latter.

Growing up in the dark

Evie was born healthy, with “absolutely no indication she had anything remotely wrong”, the mum of seven explains.

And as she entered her first year of school, she was just a “normal” kid.

So when Natasha was invited to speak at a 10-day forum in India, she jumped at the chance, leaving her husband Erich to care for the kids.

Natasha says her daughter’s skin looked like an Oompa Loompa. Credit:
instagram/tashwagner

But the moment she stepped foot off the plane after her 13-hour flight, her phone lit up.

“My eldest daughter said Evie looked a little yellow,” Natasha says.

“I told her to take Evie to hospital.”

While Natasha worked to get a flight home, Evie was admitted to hospital and doctors began running tests.

They discovered the little girl had an enlarged liver and began treating her with medication while trying to uncover the cause.

Finally, after a circuitous five-day trek home, Natasha went straight to the hospital and ran to her daughter’s side.

Evie was fitted with a nasogastric tube, which pumped nutrients and medication directly into her stomach.

With her oxygen levels too low, she was ventilated and transferred into the ICU.

“No one wants to see their loved ones with tubes and wires coming out of everywhere,” Natasha says.

‘Oompa Loompa’

From a liver biopsy and genetic testing, doctors worked around the clock to find a reason for Evie’s continuing deterioration.

With a collapsed lung, her skin turned bright yellow overnight.

Evie underwent an emergency organ transplant after doctors discovered she had Wilson’s disease. Credit:
instagram/tashwagner

“Her tummy just grew and grew, the bottoms of her feet and her eyes they were so yellow – she looked like an Oompa Loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the mum describes.

“She looked like she was pregnant.”

Desperate to try to soothe her daughter’s suffering, Natasha turned to alternate methods.

“Honestly .. I don’t know how I functioned on a daily basis,” she says.

“I hired a healer who put crystals on her stomach.”

It’s been two years since Evie’s transplant and she is a happy and healthy school girl. Credit:
instagram/tashwagner

Unable to eat or move, Evie’s arms were stretched above her head to allow her lungs to inflate.

As Natasha watched on helplessly, doctors revealed that her little girl now needed a liver transplant.

Just as the mum started to process the news, the transplant team revealed they had found a donor.

The man was in his 40s and had died from an aggressive brain tumor.

death’s doorstep

Sitting the mum down, the transplant team explained that, if she were to accept the liver, Evie would have a one-in-1000 chance of contracting the same disease that took the donor’s life.

“I didn’t know what to do. I called my husband and he didn’t know either,” Natasha says.

“I just had all of these questions, could we even reject it, could she wait for another one?”

The parents turned to their children, a doctor, for advice.

Natasha is sharing Evie’s story to help encourage others to become organ donors. Credit:
instagram/tashwagner

“She said, ‘Take it, she (Evie) needs it’,” Natasha says.

After her parents agreed to the transplant, Evie was quickly taken into surgery – and for 12 agonizing hours, Natasha waited for news.

“I was just sitting there watching people walk past, thinking how lucky we are,” she says.

“How lucky we are that, if the surgery is a success, Evie will go on to live a normal full life.”

positive mindset

Natasha’s positivity was met with great news, as the transplant was declared successful.

Evie received a split liver, meaning half the donor’s liver went to her and the other half to another individual in need.

The six-year-old spent three days in an induced coma to allow her body to recover.

Meanwhile, doctors revealed they finally found the cause of her liver failure – Wilson’s disease.

The rare genetic disorder is a result of a build up of excess copper.

The mum of seven will be forever grateful to the stranger who saved her Evie’s life. Credit:
instagram/tashwagner

Evie was slowly woken up and just two days later she bravely took her first post-op steps.

“The surgeon came in after we had been on the ward for about eight days,” Natasha says.

“He basically said Evie had been on death’s door and how lucky she was because she had 24-48 hours left to live.”

Evie continued to excel and was discharged from hospital shortly after.

Two years on

It’s now two years since the transplant and the young girl is happy and healthy.

She takes just one daily dose of anti-rejection medication and still has checkups with her GP.

And thankfully, there are no signs of any brain tumor.

Her mum will always be grateful for the stranger who gave her daughter life.

“It is just the most selfless gift,” Natasha says.

“I will never be able to say thank you to Evie’s donor but every day I think about him.

“If there wasn’t a donor at that exact time I wouldn’t have my little girl right now.”

organ donation

Looking back at Evie’s time fighting for life in hospital, Natasha thinks of the friendships she made with other parents of children who received organ transplants.

But she confesses, her mind is with those kids who died waiting.

“Two weeks after Evie left hospital, a little boy died,” she solemnly reveals.

“Every day people die waiting for an organ – there is a lot of fear around organ donation and there really doesn’t need to be.”

Information on organ donation can be found via the Australian Government Organ and Tissue Authority.

The authority says it takes just one minute to register as an organ donor – and that up to seven lives can be saved from a single person.

For more engaging Lifestyle content, visit 7Life on Facebook

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Categories
Entertainment

Ashton Kutcher reveals secret health battle: ‘Lucky to be alive’

US star Ashton Kutcher has revealed he has been secretly battling a serious autoimmune disease that affects his hearing, sight and ability to walk.

The That ’70s Show actor shared that he is “lucky to be alive” – and it took more than a year to rebuild his vision, hearing and balance.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis urge US businesses to withdraw from Russia

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“Two years ago, I had this weird, super-rare form of vasculitis,” Kutcher, 44, said in an upcoming episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge, released by Access Hollywood.

“Knocked out my vision, knocked out my hearing, knocked out like all my equilibrium.

“It took me a year to build it all back up.

Actor Ashton Kutcher attends The 23rd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2017. Credit: Fraser Harrison/Getty Images

“You don’t really appreciate it until it’s gone, until you go, ‘I don’t know if I’m ever gonna be able to see again. I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to hear again, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to walk again.

“I’m lucky to be alive.

“The minute you start seeing your obstacles as things that are made for you, to give you what you need, then life starts to get fun, right?

“You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them.”

What is Vasculitis?

Kutcher shared his health journey with adventurer and presenter Bear Grylls as they hiked through brambles and trees.

Vasculitis occurs when the body’s immune system attacks veins, arteries and small capillaries.

Inflammation occurs as a result, which can have the effect of narrowing blood vessels and restricting blood flow.

This in turn can cause organ damage or prompt aneurysms.

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis in 2022. Credit: mike coppola/Getty Images

If an aneurysm bursts, it can cause internal bleeding which can lead to death.

Vasculitis complications took the life of actor-director Harold Ramis in 2014.

According to the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy the disease is “relatively rare”.

Kutcher has kept a lower profile since taking a break in his career from 2014 to 2022.

That ’70s Showcast. Credit: FOX Image Collection

He and his wife Mila Kunis, now 38, married in 2015 and welcomed two children, Wyatt, seven, and Dimitri, five.

Kutcher and Kunis met on That ’70s Show in 1998, starring as an on-screen couple Jackie and Michael.

– with CNN

For more engaging celebrity content, visit 7Life on Facebook.

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Categories
Entertainment

Social media posts suggest Milli Lucas’ doctor Charlie Teo is engaged

Sydney neurosurgeon Charlie Teo could be trading scrubs for a wedding suit soon after revealing social media posts hinted he has recently become engaged to his girlfriend Traci Griffiths.

The couple met when Ms Griffiths sought Dr Teo’s expert advice in 2009, although they did not begin dating until 11 years later after the brain surgeon split from his wife.

Dr Teo previously operated on WA girl Amelia ‘Milli’ Lucas, who captured the hearts of the nation during her brave cancer battle. The 14-year-old lost her cancer battle in January 2021.

Wedding rumors have followed the well-known surgeon and his former patient for more than a year, but it appears there may now be some truth to the whispers.

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Categories
Entertainment

Social media posts suggest Milli Lucas’ doctor Charlie Teo is engaged

Sydney neurosurgeon Charlie Teo could be trading scrubs for a wedding suit soon after revealing social media posts hinted he has recently become engaged to his girlfriend Traci Griffiths.

The couple met when Ms Griffiths sought Dr Teo’s expert advice in 2009, although they did not begin dating until 11 years later after the brain surgeon split from his wife.

Dr Teo previously operated on WA girl Amelia ‘Milli’ Lucas, who captured the hearts of the nation during her brave cancer battle. The 14-year-old lost her cancer battle in January 2021.

Wedding rumors have followed the well-known surgeon and his former patient for more than a year, but it appears there may now be some truth to the whispers.

.