The Eskerov family living in Azerbaijan visited many hospitals first in Azerbaijan and then in Georgia for the growing belly of their 2,5-year-old daughter Derya. However, all the tests were normal and the reason for the swelling in Derya’s abdomen could not be found. Then, the family brought Derya to Turkey. Derya was diagnosed with “liver cirrhosis”and the family applied to the Head of Memorial Bahçelievler Hospital Organ Transplant Center Prof. Dr. K. Yalçın Polat. Time was working against Derya and her condition was getting worse day by day. Her mother, Arzu Eskerov, volunteered to donate her liver to her daughter, even though she had another 7-month-old baby. Prof. Polat and his team treated Derya with a successful liver transplant.The mother, who gave her daughter a second life, said, “I still think. What if my liver didn’t fit? What would I do, then? People are afraid to donate organs. I was scared at first too, but thanks to Prof. Polat, everything went very easily. I didn’t even have pain after the surgery.” Prof. Dr. K. Yalçın Polat drew attention to successful transplants performed in Turkey and said: “In 2016-2017, 500 pediatric liver transplants were performed in the United States. In Turkey, the number was 220. This is a very important number. There are approximately 8-10 thousand patients with liver failure in Turkey. We lose 700-800 patients every year because we are not able to do liver transplants or find donor organs. At this point, organ donation from cadavers gains importance.”
