Laticia Mayweather
"Go for it," is what 16-year-old liver recipient Laticia Mayweather
expresses to other African-Americans about organ and tissue donation.Laticia became sick in 1994 with lung problems, serious nosebleeds and pain in her stomach. "I was always tired, weak and had pain in my side," Laticia remembered. Since the age of ten Laticia says that she has never been very active due to this condition, yet she never thought it would escalate to something as serious as liver failure. "I could no longer do things in school or go to school and participate in gym because of my stomach problems," she said. Laticia noticed that these problems of constant nosebleeds and severe stomach pain would not go away and had limited her ability as a teenager. "I went to the hospital in March of 1999 with a nosebleed and pain in my side. They ran tests and diagnosed me with liver failure. I was shocked... it shocked me a lot," she said sadly. "I kept thinking, why me? No one in my family had ever been sick with liver failure." Laticia said that she had become so depressed at the news that at one point she thought of committing suicide. However, the support she received from the medical staff at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital and her family, she says gave her the strength to pull through and want to live. "If this is the best thing to do, then I wanted to go for it," Laticia said smiling. She also remembered how her class from Beaumont High School sent balloons and giant Get Well cards signed to encourage her. "They still call and ask how I am doing," she said laughing. After close to a year of waiting for a liver, Laticia became dangerously ill in February of 2000 and had to be admitted again into the hospital. The doctors came to see her in the middle of the night and told her that she was going to need a liver transplant right away and they could not afford to wait. "The doctors told me that it could be up to three years or more for them to find me a liver because of where I was placed on the waiting list," she said. Surprisingly, later that same night, the doctors came and told Laticia that a donor was found. "I could not believe it," she joyously said. Early the next morning, she was transplanted and is now in good condition and waiting on doctors orders to return to school. "I want to go back to school and be there everyday," she exclaimed. She is looking forward to playing volleyball and hanging out with her friends again. She plans on attending college and studying veterinarian medicine. Laticia says that she plans on writing her donor family but she wants to think about what to say. "I would like to thank them, not for their loved one dying, but for their decision to donate his/her organs. I pray for them and I pray for the donor," she lovingly said. Laticia wants to encourage African-Americans to become organ and tissue donors by remembering that they could be in her shoes one day. "They need to think how they would feel if one of their own kids or family members needed a transplant. More black people need to start donating their organs when they die. I want to encourage them to be donors. How would they feel if this happened to them?" |
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