Brave Headford girl stable after second liver transplant

Date Published: 17-Oct-2012

The eight year old Headford girl whose battle with a mystery virus has captured the hearts of her local community for over three months is said to be in a “very stable” condition after undergoing her second liver transplant operation in a matter of weeks at a top London hospital last Sunday.

Wiktoria Kubaczyk, an only child whose parents Mario and Anna have been living in Headford for the past seven years, underwent a twelve hour operation at King’s College Hospital which has given her family huge hope that she can survive.

She underwent a first transplant in late July, after being flown to London from Baldonnell, but it was a case of short-term emergency surgery just to keep her alive as the liver was not 100% compatible with the little girl who had shown no signs of illness until late June.

Surgeons at King’s College told her parents that her condition needed to improve considerably before she was able to progress with a second transplant operation and four teams went ahead with the twelve-hour operation on Saturday.

Wiktoria was one of eleven children who made their First Holy Communion at Headford National School in May and the sudden onset of her illness just over a month later has seen an enormous outpouring of goodwill among parents at the school and neighbours of the young couple, who have been at her bedside constantly since July.

A committee headed by Fr Ray Flaherty has raised over €16,000 for the Kubaczyk family since Wiktoria took ill as stone mason Mario and Anna, a cleaner, have been unable to work throughout the past three months.

“Even though it has been very sad, Wiktoria’s mystery virus really seems to have brought the goodness out of people,” said Fr Flaherty on Wednesday. “The amount of candles that have been lit and prayers said has been incredible.

“Mario and Anna have been very humbled by the support they have received, because they have not been able to work. They have been at Wiktoria’s side since the minute she took ill and went to hospital in Galway.”

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.