April Moore was born on April 18, 1991. She was two weeks
early and weighed 8 lbs 6 oz. April was the third born of the Moore
fammilie, she looked as healthy as any kid until she was about 6 weeks old. At this point
she began to take on a slight yellowish color. After many attempts of trying to get her
in to see the Doctor she was finally seen a few days befor she turned 8 weeks old. Her
Doctor noticed that her color was not right and ordered some blood tests, withen hours
we were informed that there was something wrong with April's Liver. Two days later we
found ourselves at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento CA. There they ran
several more tests including a Liver Biopsy and within 24 hours she was diagnosed with
Biliary Atresia and was on her way to the operating room.
Naturally this was a very difficult time for us, we had a 3 year old and a 22 month
old at home, not to mention the pain of having to watch them wheel our newborn into
an operating room not knowing what the outcome would be. They successfully
performed the Kasai Procedure on April, after 10 days in the hospital she came home.
We had been told that her immune system was very weak and that it would be best to
keep her away from people. We not only kept April away from people but we also kept
her brother and sister away people as well. Before it was all over we had spent the first
year of Aprils's life secluded from the public. We had a routine we had to keep on a daily
basis, at one time she was taking as many as 12 differant kinds of medicines and vitamins,
three times a day, having to administer that many to an infant was difficult and heartbreaking.
April had some complications where the flow of bile stopped, she had two more surgeries
witch they call Revisions to the Kasai. She had a few more visits to the hospital for other
minor complications that required her to be hooked up to an IV for a few days. We were
fortunate to have one of the best pediatric surgeons around, Dr. Marshall Schwartz and
our GI specialist was Dr. Robert Cannon. We were also fortunate to be in one of the top
hospitals around that has a staff if the most wonderful pediatric nurses, all of whom fell
in love with our little April, and gave us such great care. April had her Ostomy bag until
she was 11 months old, at this point her bile output was more then they had ever seen,
she was producing 750cc's of bile everyday, (up to 3 times what was normal) this
unusual high volume meant that she had to have an NG Tube so we could feed all the
bile back into her. They did the colsure surgery in March 1992. From that time on she
began to put on weight and she was finally able to get on the floor and roll around, April
had a lot of catching up to do, at 1 year she was the size of most 6 month olds. By the
time she was 2 she had caught up and was walking and talking like most 2 year olds.
April's health has been excellent, she had one bout of colonanglits when she was 3,
but since then has been the picture of health, her last blood test results showed that
all liver functions were normal, she takes her one and only medication (Actigall) every
day without complaining.
April is now 7 years old, she is in the 2nd grade where her favorite subject is
socializing. She dose well in all other subjects but dose not like them as much.
She is on an indoor soccer team that plays a game every Saturday. April loves
music, she loves to sing and dance and listen to her CD player with the volume
turned way up. April has an incredible tolerance for pain. She has broken her leg
and arm and both times did not cryor even complain a bit. April has brought much
joy to our family and everyday we are grateful for her continued good health.
Page Designer: Matthew J. Marques
Information provided by: Gwen Moore (April's Mother)
