Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

With National Transplant Week taking place from 4th – 11th July 2010, EST Manchester tells the story of three-year-old double transplant patient Zainab Naiz who benefits physically and emotionally from donkey riding therapy.

Zainab was born with liver disease and at the age of one had to undergo a life-saving liver transplant operation. She was lucky enough to receive a liver from a young donor but disaster struck when it stopped working 12 hours after the procedure. Her mum, Aliya watched helplessly as doctors entered into a race against time to find another liver and her tiny daughter was put on life support and dialysis as her kidneys began to fail. At the last minute, a liver was found from an older donor. This was not an ideal match but with time running out, Zainab’s doctors knew that any further delay would leave them unable to do the transplant.