Virus left student facing a coma as liver failed - icWales

Virus left student facing a coma as liver failed - icWales

Virus left student facing a coma as liver failed
May 14 2008 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

DOCTORS gave Tara Yasmin Jones just 24 hours to live after her liver was destroyed by a virus.

The bug had been circulating among students in Swansea, causing sickness and flu-like symptoms.

When Tara, now 20, caught it, she assumed she would recover quickly. But within three weeks the virus had left her critically ill with just 10% of her liver function remaining.

A year-and-a-half later, Tara has been able to resume her studies to become an interior decorator after she received a new liver.

Speaking at the launch of a major Welsh organ donation campaign yesterday, she said: “I feel great now. I’m totally grateful to the person who gave me such a gift. I had the transplant around Christmas time – I always associate Christmas with giving and receiving, but the greatest gift I had was the gift of life.