MEDICINE/ A piece of liver from mother to daughter? It’s so much more than that

A mother donates a portion of her liver to her eighteen month-old daughter, who was suffering from a serious illness, and restores her to life. It is a piece of good news, amidst all the bad news, that is inevitably pushed to the background. Instead, let’s focus on it. This is a success for medical science, since such surgeries, from one living person to another, are not common, and it is a success for the Italian health system, since the transplant was performed by doctors at the Infant Jesus Hospital in Rome, a hospital of choice for children.

They took out a part of the maternal liver, one eighth, more or less. It is impossible for her to understand how this one piece can be planted in the little body of her daughter, lying on a cot beside her. It will grow inside her, and will grow well without the common problems of rejection. The little body remembers and recognizes the blood and tissues that provided for her and took care of her for nine months. I tremble when I think of the ability of the doctors, their skills and their courage, and of the ability to combine science and conscience, daring and prudence. This should not be taken for granted that the medical profession is primarily a vocation towards another, to preserve life in every case, without ferocity and above all without reticence, which is many times dictated by fear of legal reprisals if unsuccessful and which hampers even the most skilled hands, condemning them to routine therapy.

The news focused attention mainly on the figure of the young mother (24 years old), who did not hesitate, when faced with a delicate operation and a major disability, to save her child. This, however, does not surprise me at all. I am more surprised that people are surprised by this. What genetic mutation would make what should seem natural and obvious to anyone who lives the fullness of motherhood exceptional? Is there a mother who could calmly decide not to help their child, even by tearing out a part of herself? Labor pains are painful and last a lifetime for a mother. How many times would she give her life and her heart, to do even a little bit of good for the one she brought into the light? There are mothers who go without food, who do bestial labor, who accept the greatest humiliations, for their children. They know how to forgive every time, and this is no less suffering than the physical kind. We know well that physical wounds can be cured, while wounds to the soul burn throughout life. Yet, a mother accepts this willingly, instinctively.