Transplant patient feels great 10 years later

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10 years after liver transplant, Jimmy going strong
Boy got second chance when uncle stepped in to save him.
May 7, 2007
Garth Wade
 
 
Jimmy Prince is a bright 10-year-old who loves his mom and dad, a girl named Ashley and his uncle, Bob Petrie.

Debbie and Keith Prince gave him life.

Ashley gives him warmth because she is, well, you know, "nice, just nice."

His Uncle Bob gave him a second shot at life.

Ten years ago, a fist-sized piece of Bob's liver was transplanted into 7-month-old Jimmy in a Chicago hospital.

Jimmy's own diseased and dying liver was removed. He would have died within 24 hours without a transplant, doctors said.

Bob's liver renewed itself and the piece he gave Jimmy thrived, with a little help from anti-rejection drugs.

Three dozen of Jimmy's kin gathered recently at the Old Country Buffet in Big Flats to celebrate the transplant's 10th anniversary and the life it restored.

An active life that's generated 10 sports trophies, a black belt in karate and an unassuming kid hooked on tuna and pizza. He will hold the door for you at the store.

"We get compliments on him all the time," said his mother.

One thing you better not do is call Jimmy a wimp.

"Everybody thinks I'm weak because I'm small," said Jimmy.

"All my friends were betting I couldn't pick this kid up, so I picked him up and walked around the room with him over my shoulder."

This kid toting kid is the shining star of Debbie's and Keith's marriage as well a glued-together extended family which includes grandparents Kathy and Bob Petrie Sr. of Big Flats and Marion and Sheldon Prince of Catlin.

James Keith Prince weighed a seemingly healthy 7 pounds, 4 ounces at birth, but a failing liver soon denied the healthy part. His belly was opened at the same spot six times before he was 7 months old. None of the surgeries worked.

His only chance was a transplant.

That's when tests of family members showed that Bob, Debbie's brother, now 36, was the best donor candidate.

Brother and sister have always been close, and Debbie was concerned about Bob's chances of recovery from the surgery.

Look up "steadfast" in the dictionary and Bob's photo ought to be there. "There was no question, I didn't look at the bad points," said Bob, a mechanic at Escher's Tire in Elmira Heights.

"I just woke up miserable and in pain for a couple of weeks. Other than that, it wasn't bad."

The best news is the kind of kid his nephew became, he said. "It's like winning a ballgame every time I see him."

It's the family thing, said Debbie. "We couldn't have done it without them. It brought the family together."

She got more good news two days before the transplant when she was informed that her medical insurance from Sam's Club in Big Flats, where she worked at the time, would pay for the transplant.

Too often, other events in a family balance good news with bad.

Jimmy's dad is disabled from injuries suffered at work and a serious car accident.

And then there was good news from 1997. The family was in Rochester for one of Jimmy's appointments at Strong Memorial Hospital when they bought a $2 New York Lottery Take Five ticket at Wegmans in Mount Hope.

It was a winner -- $81,600 -- $53,150 after taxes.

Debbie and Keith paid off medical bills and their home on Eacher Hollow Road. They sold the house to Bob Petrie, who still lives there with his wife and four kids.

Debbie, Keith and Jimmy moved another two miles up Eacher Hollow Road and bought a pretty place in the middle of eight wooded acres.

When that's not enough, they flee to one of three cabins on 162 acres of family-owned forest in Steuben County's town of Hornby -- lots of room for Jimmy's four- wheeler.

With perks like that, a 10-year-old shouldn't want to grow up. Jimmy wants to and hopes to drive a NASCAR race car. You can tell by his large collection of Earnhardt "stuff," including two full-sized cardboards of "Junior."

If he doesn't make NASCAR, Jimmy says he might settle for chiropractor. He practices on his mom and dad. "I crack their necks," he said.

There was a day when his mother needed more than that. It happened about 18 months after the transplant when Jimmy stopped eating.

His mom and dad took him back to Chicago where he ended up on a ventilator. Suddenly, Jimmy turned blue. Doctors were summoned.

Debbie thought her son was dying as she stumbled into the hall and leaned against the wall. "I had had enough. God was going to take me or both of us," she said.

She remembers falling to the floor.

"Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and it lifted me back up," she said. She knew the hand came from "somebody from above," she said.

"All the heartache went away. I went back into the room and Jimmy was OK and has been fine ever since."


Garth Wade is a freelance writer and former Star-Gazette staff writer and columnist. His column appears Mondays. The Star-Gazette is happy to forward comments to him. Send them in care of the Star-Gazette at P.O. Box 285, Elmira, NY 14902, or fax to (607) 733-4408.