Lt. Steve Tenney often helps to protect lives in Keene, New Hampshire.
“We see something, react to it and, typically, it’s over quickly,” Steve said in an interview posted on Boston Children’s Hosptial blog.
But Steve decided that he wanted to extend his service to save the life of an infant that he has never met before.
“I did what anyone would have done,” he says.
Sloan St. James was born a happy seemingly healthy looking baby. Her parents took her home so that Sloan could begin her life. As Sloan grew, they noticed a few problems.
“She was eating, sleeping and hitting all her developmental milestones,” Sloan’s mom Sarah said. “The only thing we noticed was that she was jaundiced and started getting what we called a ‘Buddha belly.’”
When Sarah took her new baby to the doctor the doctor advised Sarah to take her daughter to the hospital.
It was at Boston Children’s Hospital that Sloan’s parents learned that she had biliary atresia, a rare condition that affects the liver and bile ducts and can lead to liver failure.
“We were blindsided,” Sarah said “I couldn’t even read about it, because all you see is ‘life-threatening.’”
Sloan was placed on the liver transplant list, but it wasn’t long after this that her liver began to shut down which required her to have a transplant within one to two weeks.
Sloan’s parents weren’t matches for Sloan’s type-O blood but they found out that the brother of a close friend of theirs was.
Steve was approved as Sloan’s donor and had a portion of his healthy liver removed within 48-hours. Within a few hours after that, doctors replaced Sloan’s liver with the healthy one.
“It all goes back to the genius of booking that OR,” Sloan’s dad Chris said. “To know she’d need it, book it, and then it actually working — it’s just beyond me.”
Sloan’s parents said that they are beyond grateful to Steve.
“Steven is our hero and reminds us that there are amazing, selfless people in the world,” said Sarah.
But Steve doesn’t see it that way.
“Honestly, I am humbled,” Steve said. “I don’t think of myself as a hero. I did what I had to do. Even my 10-year-old son was unfazed by it. He told me, ‘Saving lives is part of your job.’”
Steve is recovering from surgery well and got to meet Sloan who is also doing well.
“Sloan means ‘warrior,’” Sarah said. “We didn’t think she’d need to be a warrior at such a young age — but she showed us she is.”
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