[Photo: Mr Timothy Chua with his sister Hwee Sian and transplant surgeon Jeyaraj Prema Raj at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, after the surgery in April that saw her receive part of her brother's liver. Despite the risks to his health, Mr Chua did not hesitate to be a donor.]
By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent
IT STARTED as a case of jaundice, in late March. Within a week, Madam Chua Hwee Sian, 43, started slipping into a coma.
Tests showed that the accountant's liver was severely damaged.
On April 4, liver expert Dr Lui Hock Foong and transplant surgeon Dr Jeyaraj Prema Raj were called in.
They told her husband, Mr Ng Aik Sun, that her only hope was to get a liver transplant.
But her liver failed completely within a day and she had to be put on dialysis, which can sustain a patient for just two to three days, unlike for kidney failure where regular dialysis lets patients live for years.
She needed a liver fast, and did not have time to wait for one from a cadaver. Last year, there were 17 livers from dead donors, up from 12 in 2007.
Both Mr Ng's sister and Madam Chua's brother stepped forward. Mr Ng said both their families dissuaded him from being the first to volunteer, since the couple have a four-year-old son, who could be left an orphan had the transplant gone wrong and both parents died.
Both potential donors were compatible. Mr Timothy Chua, 42, who has been married for 15 years but has no children, decided it should be him, since it was his sister who needed the liver.
The self-proclaimed coward who is 'terrified of pain' and feels nauseous at the smell of blood, rushed to make his will and told his wife to donate all his other organs should he die on the operating table.
That was one of the risks the slim man faced, and Mount Elizabeth Hospital's ethics committee made sure he knew it, he said.
Permission from a hospital's ethics committee is needed before any living donation is allowed. They are to ensure that there is no coercion or financial inducement, and that the donor is fully aware of the risk he faces.
Given the rush to decide, the committee wanted to be very sure that Mr Chua, an IT executive, knew that he could die in the attempt.
But Mr Chua's reply silenced them: 'How do you measure love against risk?'
The transplant began just hours after the ethics committee and the Health Ministry gave their approval.
Both donor and recipient are doing well and are out of hospital.
'I was very touched,' said a teary Madam Chua who found out about her brother's sacrifice only after the transplant.
Her bill will be taken care of by her insurance, which covers transplants, and by her company. Madam Chua will also pay for her brother's $29,000 bill, which is not covered by insurance since he 'volunteered' for surgery and was not sick.
He will also need regular check-ups to ensure that his liver continues functioning well. Both their partial livers will regenerate over the following months to the size of a normal liver.
For Mr Chua, his reward came when his sister went home. 'When I saw my sister feeding my nephew, I knew I that I had made the correct decision.'
