Transplant saves student with rare liver disease
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Eirini, a Greek student born in 1998, received a life-saving liver transplant at the Molinette hospital in Turin, Italy.
She developed fulminant liver failure from Wilson’s disease, a rare genetic condition causing copper buildup in the liver, while in Greece. The condition quickly progressed to multi-organ failure, leading to her hospitalization at the Hippokration General Hospital in Athens. Italy’s National Transplant Center activated a collaboration protocol with Greece after receiving an urgent request for help.
The Turin Liver Transplant Center agreed to take Eirini as a patient. Medical staff transported her by air ambulance to Turin, where she was placed on the national transplant waiting list and received life support. Doctors performed the ten-hour transplant using a compatible organ from a deceased donor just twelve hours after Eirini arrived at the hospital. Following a complex three-month recovery requiring care from multiple specialties, Eirini was discharged and is now recovering.
She expects to return to her studies and home soon, and expressed gratitude to those who saved her life.
