10,000 miles to Save Oscar

My baby’s caring auntie flew to his rescue – literally!

- Cher Heasmer/Lucy Laing

He was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful blue eyes, chubby cheeks, button nose… but yellow skin! Even the whites of his eyes were discoloured.

It was October 2015, and my son Oscar was a few days old.

He’d been born a healthy 9lb 2oz. But, as soon as me and my husband Anthony, 33, brought him home, we noticed a yellow tinge to his skin.

‘It’s just a bit of jaundice. He’ll be OK in a few days,’ my health visitor said. 

But Oscar didn’t improve. One day, his skin would look pink and healthy, the next it’d be bright yellow.

I thought back to when our daughter Millie, then 3, was born.

‘Her skin never looked like this,’ I frowned.

But the professionals insisted it wasn’t serious, it would pass.

Then, when he was 4 weeks old, Oscar woke up the most yellow I’d ever seen him. Worried, I took him straight to our health visitor. 

‘Look at him!’ I exclaimed. The doctor sent us to Stepping Hill Hospital. There, Oscar had a split bilirubin blood test to see if his jaundice was liver-related.

And it was. So Oscar was transferred to Leeds Children’s Hospital to see a specialist. 

Then, after yet more tests… 

‘Oscar has biliary atresia,’ a consultant confirmed.

It’s a childhood condition where the main bile duct from the liver doesn’t work properly. This means bile remains in the liver, destroying liver cells rapidly and causing cirrhosis– scarring of the liver.