Lizzie prepares for record sixth liver transplant operation

BRAVE Lizzie O'Farrell is about to make medical history by becoming the first person in the world to undergo six liver transplants.

The 26-year-old faces another life-saving operation in London as soon as a donor organ becomes available. And while it's another ordeal, there is light at the end of

the tunnel for the Kilkenny city woman.

Doctors now know why she has continuously rejected the organs she has received. A dormant strain of hepatitis lying low in her bone marrow for five years is the cause of the problem.

"I was disappointed when I heard that the liver had failed again," she said yesterday. "But I'm looking at my next operation as the way forward. I am afraid, but I am also relieved that we will be able to get our lives back to normal again. I've been feeling terrible in the past while."

Lizzie and husband Keith Finnegan hope the next operation will be the last and that they can celebrate their second wedding anniversary in September.

Keith has been at her side through thick and thin and she says she couldn't face into another operation without him. "I had my first transplant when I was 15, I had a second one at 15 and my third at 16. My fourth operation was when I was 18 and a half. That liver lasted five years. I had another operation at 23 and am now facing into what I hope will be my last one."

Lizzie's brother, Philly, 24, is providing the bone marrow Lizzie needs to help her body accept the new liver. "The doctors were amazed how good a match we were. It's is as if we were identical twins. Our marrow is the same in every way bar that his is male and mine female. It's just fantastic."

Lizzie's dad, Seamus, said they've never been more hopeful that this operation will be the last. "This will be a big one but hopefully it'll be the last one," Seamus said. "We're just waiting for an organ to become available. She'll be off to London then for the operation."

The former National Person of the Year has spent the last 11 years under constant medical attention in Britain and Ireland and learned within the past few weeks that her liver will stop functioning completely within three months.

Lizzie's ill-health prevents her working full-time, but if she feels well enough she helps out at the local FÁS centre. "I can't get over the support, and people are always asking about me," said Lizzie.

She has no idea when the call will come from King's College Hospital in London where she was assessed. But she and her family are all hoping that it will be soon.