KEY POINTS:
Baby Teyah Pewhairangi is on the list for a life-saving liver transplant - but she could die waiting if an organ isn't found within 26 months.
This has angered her mother, who is three years too young to save her life.
Kataraina Pewhairangi has lashed out at the red tape disqualifying her from being considered as a live donor for her 9-month-old infant, who suffers from a rare life- threatening condition.
She is 18 and the legal age is 21.
Teyah has biliary atresia and is expected to die before her third birthday unless she gets a transplant. The debilitating condition causes ducts that take bile from the liver to the gall bladder and into the bowel to not form properly.
This means the bile is unable to drain and accumulates in the liver.
"I don't like the rule at all," Ms Pewhairangi said of the minimum age regulation.
"They said it's because I'm not mature enough, but I think I am."
Ms Pewhairangi plans to take her grievances to a medical ethics council this week while in Auckland for Teyah's second operation this month.
Doctors decided to put Teyah on the waiting list over fears her condition could worsen.
The average waiting time is about nine months but some children have died on the list. There are currently 33 people waiting for liver transplants in New Zealand - three of whom are aged under 3.
A Western Bay woman's bid to be a live donor has also been turned down because she is not "emotionally attached" to the child.
Krishna Boyd, who featured in the Bay of Plenty Times after coming forward as a potential donor, has been in contact with Ms Pewhairangi and plans to meet baby Teyah soon.
The Tauranga woman's blood type, O-positive, matches Teyah's.
But live transplant regulations have also ruled her out because she was also not "emotionally attached" to Teyah.
Ms Pewhairangi said: "I don't like that rule either because she could be dying and if someone is willing to donate ... that could save her life."
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
