Anthony's Story
Chillon Caraway
LSU Student, Marlee Bridges
The Gifted Life Podcast is excited to share a story about a life saved.
Read a special guest blog from LSU Manship School of Communications student, Marlee Bridges.
Register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor at registerme.org
Anthony Chiasson, a Baton Rouge area high school sophomore, was only three-months-old when he was given a second chance at life via a liver transplant.
Anthony was born with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease that occurs in infants and causes the liver to slowly shut down. For the first two months of Anthony’s life, doctors were unsure of the steps needed to be taken to treat his condition.
Anthony’s parents were walking through a fog of confusion during that time. Finally, they received some answers. However, it required them to journey from Baton Rouge to Omaha, Nebraska. While in Nebraska, Anthony saw a specialist and thankfully, qualified to receive a transplant from a living donor. Yet, the decision of who would donate part of their liver to Anthony was still up in the air.
Heroically, Anthony’s father became his living donor, giving Anthony the left lobe of his liver, and saving his life.
Although Anthony was too young to remember his transplant, he knows now how difficult that time was for his parents. “I think my parents and family thought we were pretty much on our own,” says Anthony.
His mother began reaching out to families that were going through similar situations. Through this, she found LOPA and was able to receive the support and community she was desiring. To this day, his parents connect with other parents who walk difficult roads just as they did, and so does Anthony.
“It’s a bit of a comfort to know there are people out there just like me,” says Anthony.
Through learning about his own life and hearing stories from his family about his transplant, Anthony has decided he wants to become a doctor. “As a way of giving back, I plan on becoming a doctor of some sort in the future,” says Anthony. Anthony wants to thank all of the medical professionals, not only for Making Life Happen, but also for selflessly serving during this unprecedented time in our world. One day Anthony hopes to be serving alongside them, too.
Hear more about pediatric transplants on episodes 101 and 102 of The Gifted Life Podcast, a two-part series on Briggs Elliser, who just like Anthony, was diagnosed with biliary atresia and received a liver transplant.
Written by Marlee Bridges - LSU Student - Manship School of Mass Communications