Baby Jazmin's Liver Transplant

Our daughter Jazmin Dunn was born in March
2016 a seemingly normal, healthy baby girl.

At 4 months old she was diagnosed with a rare liver
disease - Biliary Atresia* progressing to Biliary Cirrhosis* and requires a liver transplant to live. Affected children rarely survive beyond two years of age without a liver transplant. The cause of Biliary Atresia remains unknown however, it is not an inherited disease.

Jazmin started to show signs of mild jaundice a few days after birth and we were told by multiple health professionals that it was normal and it would go away. At her 6 weeks check up her pediatrician said not to worry it was just breastmilk jaundice.

The jaundice got worse and we were told her liver was enlarged when she was admitted to the hospital and an open biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of Biliary Atresia.

There are 2 steps for treatment of this disease; The Kasai procedure is usually the first step in treatment for Biliary Atresia where a piece of the intestine is used to replace the damaged bile ducts to create bile flow. The second step is a liver transplant (Liver transplantation is the definitive treatment for Biliary Atresia).

Jazmin will undergo her first step in treatment on August 4, 2016 at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica; she'll be 5 months old. The Kasai procedure is usually most successful before 3 months of age and is not guaranteed to be successful.

Jazmin suffers from symptoms including severe worsening jaundice which causes persistent itching, dark burning urine, pale clay-coloured stools and an enlarged liver or swollen abdomen.

Unfortunately hospitals in Jamaica (baby Jazmin's home country) are unable to perform liver transplants and we are therefore forced to seek help abroad which as you can imagine will be very costly. We are in the process of contacting hospitals abroad. So far only one hospital in Florida has given us an unofficial estimate of USD 400,000.00 but we are still looking, trying to find somewhere less expensive. As soon as we have received an official estimate we will be updating the goal to reflect that.

Jazmin is a sweet, innocent baby girl who is loved dearly by all who have met her including her 5 year old sister. She does not deserve this; no child deserves to go through these problems.

Help us save baby Jazmin's life; Give her a chance to thrive, to have a long, healthy, fulfilling life. Please share her story and donate if you are able to. Every donation counts and will make a difference. Every donation will be greatly appreciated and used to fund Jazmin's medical expenses.

We are forever grateful to Jazmin’s aunt Torian Brown in Canada for telling us about GoFundMe and helping us set it up.

Help Save Baby Jazmin. She Needs YOUR Help.

* Biliary Atresia is a rare life-threatening liver disease in infants in which the bile ducts inside or outside the liver do not have normal openings resulting in a buildup of bile in the liver which over time leads to liver failure. Bile is a fluid made by the liver that serves two main functions: carrying toxins and waste products out of the body and helping the body digest fats and absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.

* Biliary Cirrhosis is a chronic, or long lasting, liver condition caused by scar tissue and cell damage that makes it hard for the liver to remove toxins from the blood. These toxins build up in the blood and the liver slowly deteriorates and malfunctions. Without treatment, the liver eventually fails and the infant needs a liver transplant to stay alive.

 Parents: Jessica & Javion Dunn