When Julia Harlin's liver (肝) began failing several years ago as a result of a serious illness, her only option for survival was to get a liver transplant (移植).
Due to a long waiting list, Julia would need to wait months or years to find a person with a matching blood type, who'd like to donate his or her liver, as well as other medical characteristics—and as a senior citizen, time wasn't exactly on her side.
"They basically told me, it would probably be at least five years, if not longer, before I would get the transplant," Julia, 71, of Frederick, Maryland, recalled during an interview.
Despite having five children of her own, Julia said she did not want any of them to donate their liver to her "because then I would be worrying about them on top of worrying about myself".
Without their mom's knowledge, however, Julia's daughter Eileen Harlin and her two other brothers and sister applied to donate their liver, which would reduce their mom's wait time, although it would require a major surgery.
Eileen got the call that she was a match right before Mother's Day. Deciding that Mother's Day was the best time to tell her parents, Eileen began the conversation, "Hey, don't get mad. For the past few months, I've been getting tested to see if I'm a match. And I am, and I want to do it." The news was met with tears all around. Happy tears. How can you be mad when the daughter just said she was going to save her mom's life? "It was emotional for sure," Eileen shared.
The liver transplant was carried out successfully on Aug. 16, 2022, at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, according to a press release from the hospital. Unfortunately, Julia received additional bad news not long after the surgery. She was experiencing kidney (肾) failure due to the kidney damage.
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Julia's doctors said that the condition required her to get a new kidney.
Eileen saved her mom's life twice.