Unite 4 Life Organ Donation: Toddler’s lifesaving transplant changed this Riverland family

A Riverland family lost one baby to a genetic disorder and almost had to say goodbye to another — but the ultimate gift from a stranger changed everything.

It was just a week or so after Hunter Fletcher’s first birthday that he was laid on an operating table at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, 700km away from his Riverland home at Glossop.

Caitlyn and Peter, Hunter’s parents, had to wait 11 hours as their baby received a liver transplant.

Hunter’s mum Caitlyn is grateful for the organ donation and that Hunter is now a happy "typical toddler". Picture: Brett Hartwig

Hunter was missing an enzyme in his liver that meant he had 3800 micromoles.

A healthy human has ammonia levels of under 50 micromoles per litre.

He was born a healthy baby in 2022, Ms Fletcher said, but only a few days later signs of sickness started to appear — the same signs that 11 months earlier tragically claimed the life of their days-old baby boy, Harvey.

The family flew from Berri hospital to Flinders Medical Centre, but due to Hunter’s condition he was transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Doctors and his family “didn’t even know whether he was going to make the trip”, Ms Fletcher said.

He did, and once there medical staff were able to pinpoint the problem — a rare genetic disorder called OTC deficiency — and determine that he’d need a liver transplant.

Caitlyn and Peter got the call at 11.30pm that they’d need to be at the airport ready to go to Melbourne for the surgery at 6am the following morning. They got there, and Hunter got his transplant.

“He’s a typical toddler, you know a typical two-and-a-half, three-year-old kid,” Ms Fletcher said nearly two years after his 2023 surgery.

“You wouldn’t know he’s any different; he runs, he talks and eats, he climbs trees. Apart from having regular blood tests he’s doing really well.”

Ms Fletcher said managing the “chaos” and “trauma” brought the importance of organ donation to the forefront of family conversations.

He’s running around, climbing trees and living his best life as a “typical toddler”. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“My brother, I remember he was telling me like years ago that he was an organ donor and it just went over my head, I was younger, but then you go through it,” she said.

“I didn’t think about becoming an organ donor until Hunter was diagnosed. But it's something everyone should consider.

“It’s time to sit down and just think about it and just realise you could be saving a baby’s life, yes also an adult’s life too, but a baby that has their whole life ahead of them.”

South Australia has the highest number of registered organ donors across the country, partly because of the option to tick a small box when getting your license that no other state or territory offers. The box asks if you opt to being an organ donor.

Premier Peter Malinauskas as part of The Advertiser’s Unite 4 Life campaign has called on all other states to consider that small box that can make a massive difference.

Ms Fletcher said when something is easy as ticking a box, why wouldn’t you.

“I think if you haven’t been in the position of a family member needing a transport then that won’t cross your mind, if that box is there, it’s so easy to tick,” she said.

“Even if people don’t tick the box they can go home and think it over and talk about it, which is really important, and something I think everyone needs to do.”

Originally published as Unite 4 Life Organ Donation: Toddler’s lifesaving transplant changed this Riverland family