'Baby out of the blue' Arran Foster is a blessing for his parents who thought they might never have children. Photo / Kylie Cornwell
'Baby out of the blue' Arran Foster is a blessing for his parents who thought they might never have children. Photo / Kylie Cornwell
Liver transplant Dad celebrates a new son.
Proud Kiwi dad Dan Foster is celebrating twice being given the gift of life by his brave wife, Jen.
In September 2007, the gravely ill IT consultant was told he would not survive a year without a vital liver transplant.
Jen risked her life to save him by donating 60 per cent of her own liver in her native Scotland, where a live liver transplant had never been performed.
The 15-hour operation was a success but the newlyweds - who married in Fiji just seven months earlier - feared they would never have a family as there was a risk of passing on Dan's chronic condition to an unborn child. But after years of tests and research, they were eventually told it was safe for them to start trying for a baby.
Now the couple, based in Waikanae, on the Kapiti Coast, are celebrating the arrival of their precious son, Arran.
He was born on August 10, six years after the Fosters moved back to New Zealand from Scotland.
"The whole thing has been a bit of a fairy tale," Jen, 33, told the Herald on Sunday. "Giving Dan a baby is something equally special."
Dan, 36, has Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), a rare condition where the bile ducts into the liver harden and narrow, causing serious damage. He was diagnosed at 17.
The former Paraparaumu College student was at death's door when surgeons at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary agreed to let Jen give him half of her liver.
Jen was told she had a 20 per cent chance of serious health complications and a one in 200 chance of death. Dan had to face the reality one in 10 organ transplant recipients die on the operating table.
It was also the first time in the UK for such a procedure to involve a married couple.
Since the transplant in January 2008 Dan has made a remarkable recovery. He was delighted when in December Jen revealed she was pregnant, after suffering two miscarriages.
"It was third time lucky," Jen, a veterinary nurse, said. "I told Dan when we were out for dinner and I gave him an invitation to the baby's arrival on a scroll tied with a ribbon. He was speechless.
Jen and Dan Foster with baby Arran. Photo / NZH
"We had waited a long time for this to happen and he didn't want to put a baby at risk of growing up with PSC."
Another concern came when the extensive testing to become a donor revealed Jen was a carrier for another liver condition.
"We found out we could have kids because PSC isn't hereditary and I am only a carrier of my condition so I couldn't pass it on."
Dan said being parents seemed like an impossible dream eight years ago. He couldn't be more proud and was thankful to Jen for giving him another incredible gift.
After the transplant the couple - who met in Australia - decided to live life to the full. They travelled the world, secured good jobs, built their first home and have started work on their second.
They are staying with Dan's parents, Rod and Sheril, in Waikanae and building a house nearby. "After everything Dan and Jen have been through it is thrilling to have such a positive outcome," Sheril said. "Little Arran came out of the blue and he has completed their lives."
New Zealand has one of the developed world's lowest organ donation rates and the Government has ordered two reviews to see if it can be improved.
Latest figures show the 46 deceased organ donors in 2014, up from an average of 36 donors per year between 2004 and 2013.
Between three and eight live liver transplants have been performed in New Zealand each year since 2010, with just five in 2014.
