On the soccer field, Levi looks just like any other kid. The eight-year-old has just started training for the season and couldn’t wait to run alongside his teammates.
But there was a time when Levi’s family weren’t sure his future would look like this.
At just three months old, Levi began developing fevers and his parents noticed his skin turning yellow. The jaundice was the first sign something wasn’t right.
Levi was taken to The Prince Charles Hospital before being transferred to the Queensland Children’s Hospital for further tests to find out what was making him so unwell.
Doctors diagnosed him with biliary atresia, a rare, life-threatening liver disease in newborns where the bile ducts (tubes that drain bile from the liver) are blocked, absent, or damaged. This causes bile to build up, leading to liver scarring and damage.
While there is no cure for biliary atresia, the condition can be treated with surgery and most children, like Levi, will require a liver transplant before reaching adulthood.
For six months, Levi and his family waited and hoped for a miracle. Then they received the call that a liver had become available.
Levi underwent liver transplant and after surgery, began to recover rapidly.
“I couldn’t believe how well he recovered. We felt so incredibly lucky, and Levi was so strong,” his Mum, Lydia said.
“To see him go from so unwell to learning how to stand up and walk and play with his siblings. It was truly just the best feeling,” she said.
“The gratitude we have for the donor and their family is hard to describe. Without them, life would look very different for Levi, and we are so thankful for them.”
More than six years later, you would never know Levi faced such a major health battle in his early years.
A fan of YouTube and being outdoors, he is like the rest of his peers, achieving milestones at school and kicking goals on the soccer field.
To help keep him thriving, Levi attends regular check-ups to monitor his liver function and may occasionally need treatments, such as steroids, to keep his liver working well.
Mum, Lydia, said the journey hasn’t been without its challenges, but there is always hope.
“When you’re in the thick of it, it can be really hard to see the positives or the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
“But if you have a strong support network and a great medical team, like we did with everyone involved in Levi’s care, there is always joy to be found and things really do get easier with time.”