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Charlie Cronin can eat 'normally' after transplant
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Transplant patient Charlie Cronin gets new appetite for life

By Hugh Fort
November 03, 2009

A nine-year-old girl who could only eat certain foods is wolfing down her new favourite meal of cauliflower cheese after undergoing a rare transplant.

Charlie Cronin is recovering well after having a unique small bowel transplant at London’s King’s College hospital in August.

She returned to her home in Balfour Close in Easthampstead last month and is now able to eat properly for the first time in her life.

She suffers from a rare condition called intestinal lymphandietcaisa, which meant she was not able to digest any food.

Doctors feared she would not have lived past the age of 15 if she did not have the surgery but are now hopeful she can lead a normal life.

She also had to have nutrients fed directly into her heart as her body would not absorb any.

Until the transplant Charlie, who is hoping to return to Fox Hill Primary School in January, was on a low fat, high protein diet.

Charlie’s mum Kelly, 25, said: “She is like a different person.

“I’m cooking a lot of cauliflower cheese and buying a lot of ice cream.

“It’s great. But she’s not 100 per cent, she’s still a bit tired and says she feels sick a lot of the time.

“The doctors say it should take about 18 months for her to recover fully, but they are just looking to get her medication right.

“She has been so brave about it, she’s defying the doctors as well.

“One of the things with the condition is it affected one side of her body which caused her legs to swell up.

“The doctors said it would take a while for that to go down, but it’s happened already and I’ve been able to take her out to buy her first ever pair of boots, which she was so happy about.

“It’s a bit weird for me, I used to have to prepare all her food really carefully but now I’m cooking her fried egg on toast for breakfast.”

Charlie was put on the transplant list in August 2008 and the operation, the first of its kind at the hospital, happened less than a year later.

Kelly added: “Charlie still has the condition and will have to take medication for the rest of her life, but the transplant has given her a new lease of life.

“She will have the tube going to her heart removed soon and will be able to live the life of a normal little girl.

“I’d really like to thank the donor and the surgeons at the hospital for giving her her life back.”

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Charlie is a brave happy go lucky little girl who deserves to have a bit of naughty food for the first time in her life!!! she has been through so much and for someone to judge a small article on a website all i can say to you jimbo bob is NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!!!! for the first time charlie has been able to eat the naughty stuff that we take for granted!!! and all i can say is that as a family they have been through so much that none of us will never go through half of what they have been through in 9 years in our life time!!!dont judge what u know nothing about!!!!

shelly71
05/11/2009 at 17:43

This is a lovely story but it looks like the young lady was eating better before the operation - low fat and high protein. Surely a diet of Fried Eggs on Toast, Cauliflower cheese, Ice cream and Pot noodles cannot be good? I understand if she has to eat "softer" foods at the moment, but what about a nice homemade soup to ease in her digestive sysyem?