New liver nearly 20 and still going strong

Tracy Holmes, pictured in her Hamilton garden yesterday, is NZ's longest-surviving recipient of a liver transplant. She is about to celebrate 20 years of her second chance at life. Picture / Sarah Ivey

As a 10-year-old, the last thing Tracy Holmes wanted was a scar on her small, rounded tummy.

Now, at 31, she considers the massive T-shaped scar down her front and across her stomach is a reminder of a miracle she celebrates every day.

Miss Holmes is New Zealand's longest-surviving liver transplant patient and on October 3 will mark the 20th anniversary of her second chance at life with a huge bash at her Hamilton home.

She is well aware of the long way she has travelled from the dire predictions doctors made when she was born with a rare genetic disease which causes liver failure.

"I wasn't supposed to live to 2 years old ... When I reached 5, they said I'd get to 8."

Living in Southland, she was a sickly child, travelling to Dunedin every six weeks and more often if she was especially ill.

When she was 10 her parents decided they had had enough.

"They got to the stage where they didn't want to see me go through any more tests or any more needles. They told the doctors to let me live out the rest of my life in peace."

But a doctor advised the family to go to England for a liver transplant, which was not then available in New Zealand.

Debbie's family raised $150,000 to make the trip. The operation seemed to go well, but her body rejected the new liver and she had to make an emergency trip back to Britain.

This time the operation was a success. "The first time I got a liver from a 28-year-old man and the second time from a girl my own age. I don't know if that made a difference, but it has transformed my life."

Within 24 hours of the transplant, her family were noticing a difference and 20 years on she is fit and well, working full-time and heavily involved in theatre.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES