Kieran Cooper, 25, was blue-lighted to hospital in January 2026 after his liver failed and he turned a ‘luminous’ shade of yellow due to jaundice caused by a build-up of bilirubin
A bloke who turned bright yellow ‘like Bart Simpson’ after his liver failed has admitted he’s still ‘frightened’ to venture outside – due to the fear of being gawked at by passers-by.
Kieran Cooper, who suffered from a liver disease in his childhood, turned a ‘luminous’ shade of yellow in January 2026, a full 24 years after his first liver transplant. The 25-year-old was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham under blue lights and remained hospitalised for five weeks before receiving a second liver transplant on February 28.
While nervously awaiting the life-saving procedure, Kieran developed jaundice and turned an alarming shade of yellow due to an accumulation of a substance known as bilirubin.
He was so yellow, Kieran quipped that he resembled Bart Simpson, but admitted he found it difficult dealing with strangers gawking at him in public.
After the operation, Kieran’s skin returned to its normal colour, but he describes his recovery as ‘painful’ and had to relearn how to walk.
Now, Kieran is sharing his story to raise awareness about his condition.
Kieran, hailing from Northwich, Cheshire, said: “It was a shock [turning yellow], I looked like one of the Simpsons.
“It made me self-conscious [walking down the street], it was quite uncomfortable. I feel a lot better than I did, but I’m still scared to go out.
“It wasn’t painful before but after [the transplant] it was horrendous. I had to learn to walk again too, it wasn’t very nice.
“I go to the hospital every six weeks and I have to take medication for the rest of my life.
“I didn’t like people looking but I couldn’t help it.
“It went back to normal straight away. I’m glad I’m back on the mend and I’m grateful to be alive.”
Kieran first developed a yellow complexion when he was just two days old and was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, a rare condition that prevents the gallbladder from developing correctly in newborns. He underwent his initial operation at merely seven-weeks-old, but it proved unsuccessful, resulting in him requiring a liver transplant in 2002 when he was 11 months old.
Kieran remained fit and well following his surgery but began experiencing complications in 2014 when he was 13 and was placed on a waiting list for a liver transplant in 2023. When his condition worsened earlier this year he underwent a second liver transplant and is progressing well.
Still on the road to recovery from his surgery, Kieran, who doesn’t currently work due to his health, is now telling his story to highlight awareness of the condition. Kieran said: “I wanted to share my story and what I’ve been through.
“You don’t want to go through the stuff I’ve been through, because I’ve been to hell and back.”
His mum, 54-year-old retail worker Kerry Cooper, said it was a ‘rough’ experience for the family as they feared Kieran might not make it.
Kerry said: “He wasn’t feeling well [one day] and the next morning I thought, ‘oh my world he is yellow’. We got blue-lighted to Birmingham and he was there for five weeks.
“He had been yellow for a few months but it got worse while he was in Birmingham. He was yellow but he went luminous, we joked saying he looked like Bart Simpson.”
“He stood out from everybody. Every time we went out for air everyone was looking at him.
“He had to go into intensive care. It was pretty rough as a family, we didn’t know whether he would survive it.
“It was awful. I absolutely feared for his life.”