Coroner’s warning after ‘match and wholesome’ schoolgirl, 14, died days after feeling ailing with ‘tummy ache’
A ‘national shortage’ of liver donors could put patients needing urgent transplants at risk of death, a coroner has warned, after a teenager who couldn’t find a donor in time died of liver failure.
Maisie Almond was a ‘fit and healthy’ 14-year-old with no underlying health conditions.
But she died just days after complaining of a ‘tummy ache’ and her eyes, according to her mother, turned an ‘indescribable shade of yellow’.
After becoming ill on September 15, 2024, Maisie’s parents took her to A&E at Tameside General Hospital, Greater Manchester, the following day where medics made the shocking discovery that her liver was yellow.
They diagnosed the ‘model pupil’, who had two part-time jobs, with hepatitis and over the next ten days she was admitted to hospital on three separate occasions with a ‘worsening’ condition.
‘Exhaustive’ investigations ruled out any identifiable infections, genetic or other causes of the acute failure of her liver.
Maisie, who had plans to backpack around the world and wanted to be an accountant, was subsequently transferred to the Liver Centre at Leeds General Hospital on September 26.
The following day she was put on the waiting list for a transplant as a ‘super urgent’ case.
Maisie Almond was a ‘fit and healthy’ teenager before she complained of a ‘tummy ache’. Medics later discovered her liver was yellow and she was diagnosed with hepatitis
The 14-year-old was put on a liver transplant waiting list and her case was marked ‘super urgent’
However a donor did not become available until October 1 – by which time the 14-year-old’s brain had swelled up. She had also suffered other organ damage.
According to Adrian Farrow, assistant coroner for Manchester South, these complications made the ‘prospects of her survival so low that the transplant did not take place’.
Maisie passed away the next day on October 2, 2024, with Mr Farrow ruling that she died from cerebral oedema and multi-organ failure and seronegative acute liver failure during an inquest into her death, which concluded on February 26.
In a report to prevent future deaths in similar cases, the coroner warned that ‘in my opinion there is a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken’.
Mr Farrow said: ‘During the inquest, I heard evidence from a consultant paediatric hepatologist that there is a national shortage of donor livers generally and particularly for children in the “super urgent” category.
‘The clinical guidance not to utilise cardiac death donor livers in such cases due to the poor historical outcomes has narrowed the pool of suitable donor livers to those arising from brain deaths.
‘Altruistic living liver donations are generally not available for super urgent cases.
‘The evidence I received was that the number of donor livers has reduced by a third and the effect is that whereas, historically, a donor liver could be expected to be made available within 48 hours, the wait has now extended to up to a week.
Maisie died after liver complications caused her brain to swell up and she suffered multi-organ failure
She was described by her parents as the ‘most happy, kind, positive’ daughter
‘That delay gives rise to a clear risk that lives will be lost due to the unavailability of suitable donor organs.’
Maisie’s parents, Kathryn and Stuart, have promised to ‘keep her memory’ alive following the schoolgirl’s death.
They previously described her as being the ‘most happy, kind, positive person’ who was ‘always smiling, always chatting’.
Her parents said their daughter’s loss was ‘unimaginable’, adding they were ‘utterly heartbroken’ by her death.
They have set up a charity in her name, Maisie Moo’s Missions – dedicated to organ and blood donation work – through which they ‘keep her light shining’.
