By: Emily Johnson
May 19, 2014
Imagine getting the news that your child needs a liver transplant… at just 5 years old.
And now imagine your child’s liver is failing again, and he’ll need another transplant.
The only thing that 12-year-old James Brown, III wants to do is play football, but he has a serious health issue that’s in his way.
Now, he’s hoping for a miracle.
“My liver transplant so I don’t have to worry about no more,” said Brown.
At the age of 5, doctors told them he would need a new liver.
They went through the procedures, and a few years later, they’re having to go through it all over again.
“It’s seven years now so now he has to have another one done because his arteries are gone, he had a blockage,” said Shamika Brown-Clark, James’s mother.
Because of Brown’s clogged liver bile ducts, he wears tubing attached to his stomach that has to be flushed out every month by his doctors in Atlanta.
His mother is not able to work because of the rigorous travel schedule that is required for his care.
They’re now asking for support from the community.
Brown’s dad works at Maryland Friend Chicken, just one of the locations in Thomasville that is collecting funds for the family.
“He’s ready to get his surgery over with because he’s like dad I’m in pain I’m ready to gone on and get my surgery over with he said they tube was starting to hurt,” said James Brown, Jr., James’s dad.
The family also has accounts set up in Brown’s name at Suntrust Bank and Commercial Bank, where folks can donate money to help with the family’s bills and medical costs.
“I feel like I’m too young to be getting this….too many surgeries,” said James.
The family says they are now approved by Medicaid to be on the liver transplant list.
They’re anxiously waiting for news of a match.
James’s next check-up is on June 18, 2014 in Atlanta.
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