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Hong KongHealth & Environment

Ailing Hong Kong mother able to open eyes and nod after second liver transplant

Doctor says first donation prolonged patient’s life for seven days, providing time to find second donor

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Tang Kwai-sze (left) and her daughter Michelle (right). Photo: Handout
Emily TsangandElizabeth Cheung
A dying mother whose desperate hunt for an organ donor aroused deep public sympathy across Hong Kong is showing signs of recovery after a second liver transplant, seven days after the first.

Tang Kwai-sze, 43, could now open her eyes and nod, and the transplant appeared to be successful, Queen Mary Hospital’s liver transplant centre director, Professor Lo Chung-mau, said on Friday.

The case grabbed headlines as it prompted the government to consider amending the city’s law on human organ transplants. Tang’s 17-year-old daughter, Michelle, could not donate her own liver as she was around three months shy of the legal age.
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Momo Cheng Hoi-yan, the 26-year-old clerk who threw a last-minute lifeline to Tang by donating two-thirds of her liver on April 13, said the risk to her own health had been worthwhile.
Clerk and organ donor Momo Cheng (left) with her mother before leaving the hospital. Photo: Handout
Clerk and organ donor Momo Cheng (left) with her mother before leaving the hospital. Photo: Handout
“The past week was important. Without my liver to extend Tang’s life, she would not have been able to wait for one from a deceased donor,” she replied when asked how she felt about the second transplant.
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“I think it was worthwhile to use my 0.5 per cent mortality rate [as a liver donor] in exchange for Tang’s 90 per cent survival rate.

Without my liver ... she would not have been able to wait for one from a deceased donor
Momo Cheng Hoi-yan, donor
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