When Jenna was born on the 4 December 2007, she was the picture of health. My little girl, second child and sister to her brother who was only 16 months older than her, was loved from the minute she was born. Little did I know that 8 weeks later my life would be turned upside down and I would be walking a road for which nobody could prepare you.

I took Jenna home from hospital, slightly jaundiced, but nothing that the doctors considered to be out of the norm. She fed, cried, never slept and gave me what every new mother has, sleepless nights and concerns that it just can't be normal for a child to cry so much, there must be something wrong. I took her for her 6 week check-up and complained that she just did not stop crying, especially when she passed a stool and I was concerned that the stool seemed paler than normal. I was reassured by the paediatrition that it was just probably colic and the pale stool was a result of my breast milk. But when I could not take the crying any longer, I took her to another Paediatrition for a second opinion and it was then that the pale stool caused some concern and she asked me to take Jenna for blood tests. The results showed that the liver was not functioning well and we had to go for a battery of tests the next day to rule out that she did not have a rare liver disease called Biliary Atresia. When all the results came back negative for other liver complications, the doctors decided to not waste any more time, but rather send her into theatre, open her up and see if it was in fact Biliary Atresia. It was a four hour operation and the results changed my life forever. Jenna did, indeed, have Biliary Atresia and in addition to this, her intestines were twisted, her appendix was removed, as it was on the wrong side of her body; she had a bundle of spleens opposed to one and she also had no inferior vena cava. The verdict was she needed a liver transplant and she needed it soon. We had to get her as big and strong as possible in order for her to handle a liver transplant. We also had to pray that she got a liver in time.

The next few months to follow, we were in and out of hospital, as Jenna started needing banding to stop internal bleeding. She was deteriorating quickly and to make matters worse it felt like she was giving up the will to live, as she did not want to eat. She was getting fed through a naso gastric tube during the day and attached to a machine at night, so that we could try and get her as well-nourished as possible. We started worrying that we would not get a liver in time and investigated the option of doing a live-transplant overseas, but the amount of money involved was far too much for us and to raise this money would take time and we were not sure how much time we had. We then decided to motivate for the SA surgeons to bring international surgeons out to do the live-transplant. My brother Jeremy, who was the same blood type as Jenna, offered to give a portion of his liver to her, so all we needed now was someone to do the operation.

We were looking at this option when on the 10 September - on my brother's birthday - our prayers were answered and we received a phone call from the transplant clinic to say that there was a potential liver for Jenna. They were concerned that it might be too big for her, but we needed to come through and be prepared for a transplant anyway. We drove to Donald Gordon for blood tests and X rays. At the same time another little girl, Thandile and her mom, Felicity were also called in and prepared for a transplant as well, as there was a 70% chance that the liver would be too big for Jenna and it would go to Thandile. I tried not to get my hopes up, but at 4:45pm that day, we were told that the liver was going to Jenna. It was a very emotional moment, as I had prayed and wished for this moment, but was suddenly afraid and in a way did not want it to happen. She would die if she did not get a liver, but she also could also die on the operating table. I had got use to caring for her and heavily medicating every day and now it was going to all change. It was a very difficult op and the surgeons had to be creative when it came to her unusual anatomy. Especially around the fact that she did not have an inferior vena cava. There was a moment when they thought that they could not connect the liver. It was the worst moment of my life, as I visualised my little girl lying open on the table, with no liver, being left to die. It was at the last minute, basically, that the surgeon found a stump near her heart and was able to do some very creative work. She came out of surgery and was in ICU for 6 weeks. It was a journey of life support, coupled with complications where she had to go back into surgery and be opened up again. She was heavily medicated and it was a long time before I saw her awake. She also got pneumonia and had to have physio ever two hours. She was resuscitated several times and I could not believe that a fragile little body could take so much and still keep on fighting, but she did. I prayed all the time and had people praying all over the world, but a big change happened when I asked a pastor that I knew from a long time ago to come and pray for her in ICU. Things turned around and I eventually believed that she was going to be fine and visualised her running around and playing with her little brother and felt excited about her recovery.

She came out of hospital at the end of October and besides us now being in hospital for the past 7 days as she has pneumonia, she has been a normal child. She needs medicating twice a day with immune suppressants and other drugs , but she is eating, laughing, crawling, trying to walk, learning to talk and happy most of the time. She received the gift of life and we are enjoying and appreciating every second of it. She is truly a miracle. Thank you God!