Fundraiser for transplant hopeful Joe

A fundraising campaign has been launched online to send a Ballymena boy waiting for a rare dual liver and kidney transplant to Disney World.
Sarah Lamont with her son Joe. INBT10-215ACSarah Lamont with her son Joe. INBT10-215AC
Sarah Lamont with her son Joe. INBT10-215AC

When Joe Lamont was born in the Royal Victoria Hospital with kidney failure, he wasn’t expected to last the night.

He was ventilated at birth and at 10 days old was put on to dialysis.

At two weeks he suffered a brain haemorrhage, at three weeks a cardiac arrest and at six weeks he had to be flown to a Manchester hospital to have one kidney removed but the other could not be saved and was removed a fortnight later.

At three months Joe finally managed to breathe unaided and came off the ventilator but had to remain in hospital for almost a year before finally being allowed home.

Having been since diagnosed with the serious liver disease Congenital Heptatic Fibrosis, Joe is currently on the waiting list for a rare combined liver and kidney transplant, requiring both organs to come from the same donor.

In the meantime, the brave little Ballymena boy attends hospital a number of days each week and requires constant care from mum Sarah who is also mum to Max and Eve. Mindful of all that Joe and his family have been through, Sarah’s friend Danielle McCaig last week launched an online fundraising campaign to send them on a holiday of a lifetime to Disney World once Joe gets his transplant.

In its first day, the Go Fund Me campaign set up in aid of ‘Joe’s Holiday of a Lifetime’ had amounted £200 towards its £7,000 target.

In her online appeal, Danielle said of Joe: “He was never expected to live past birth but almost three rather rocky years later, he’s still here and still smiling.

“He is such a happy little boy who adores Mickey Mouse, so I set up this page to take Joe and his family to Disney World once he gets his transplant.

“This would be fantastic, not only for Joe but his brother and sister, Max and Eve, who have had their world turned upside down due to Joe’s illness and for his mum Sarah, who has coped throughout on her own with little to no respite.”

If you would like to make a donation or find out more just log on to http://www.gofundme.com/7ya2dq52c