Getting the gift of life

Nine-year-old Jacob Smirl of Girard loves sports and is “as ornery as they come,” according to his mother, Alice. But when he was little more than 2 years old, his future as a normal Kansas kid, and a two-sport bronze medalist at the National Kidney Foundation’s U.S. Transplant Games three weeks ago was very much in doubt.

When he was about 8-weeks-old, specialists diagnosed Jacob with biliary atresia, a condition in which the ducts that allow bile to flow from the liver are blocked. According to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital website, biliary atresia is characterized primarily by jaundiced skin, and causes cirrhosis and eventually death if not treated.

When Jacob was 20-months-old, surgeons performed what is called the Kasai procedure, removing the damaged ducts and attaching the liver directly to his intestines. Theoretically the procedure would allow Jacob to grow for five to 10 years without needing any major surgery. But things didn’t go according to plan.

“We were hoping he would be a teenager when he needed a transplant,” Alice said. “But the damage was already done.”

When he was 20-months-old the tragic death of a young Colorado boy, seven-year-old Collin Sanders, in a car wreck gave Jacob the chance to live. He takes Prograf pills, which keep his body from rejecting Sanders’ liver, three times a day. But it’s a minor inconvenience considering the alternative,” Alice said.

“He’s a very active nine-year-old little boy,” she said as Jacob kicked a soccer ball around the backyard, carrying a football in his hands.

The plot recently thickened, in what turned out to be a good way, for the Smirls. Alice said she and Jacob (who seemed unusually shy, as Alice put it, during this interview) had spoken to another newspaper several years ago, a move that eventually led them to meet the Sanders family.

As it turns out, Collin’s grandfather lives just down the road in Carl Junction, Mo., and after reading the article about Jacob made the connection between the two. After several years and many correspondences, the Smirls got to meet Collin’s father, Kendal. Later, Alice said, the family traveled to Windsor, Colo., where they met the rest of the Sanders clan.

“It was like going to meet family we hadn’t seen in a long time,” Alice said. “We felt like we knew each other.”

That’s not to say it was easy.

“She wrote, and it took several years for me to write back,” Collin’s mother, Tracy, said over the phone.  “I didn’t know what to say.”

Tracy said the family didn’t think twice about donating Collin’s liver — they also donated his kidneys.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” she said of knowing that Jacob is thriving now. “But donating his organs didn’t take the pain away.”

The Smirls have met many families of donors and recipients over the years. Some donor families, Alice said, have no desire to meet the recipients of their loved ones organs. But Tracy said the connection has been integral to her family’s recovery.

At the Transplant Games, where Jacob medaled in the bike race and softball throw, Kendal Sanders was able to heal his wounds a bit more, riding alongside Jacob and shouting words of encouragement. Tracy said he “doesn’t talk about it much,” but that she can tell it meant a lot to him.

“It’s something my husband doesn’t get to do with his son,” Tracy said. “But I think it really helps him.

“We don’t want him (Jacob) to replace Collin,” she continued. “But he was honoring Collin in his own way.”

Despite the tragic connection the families remain very close, Alice and Tracy said. And Jacob exchanges text messages with Collin’s brother and sister weekly.

“It’s great to see him grow up and be healthy,” Tracy said. “We’ve been showing his picture to everybody.”

Alice, who now volunteers time with the Midwest Transplant Network to assist donors, recipients and their families, said she feels the same way. Seeing Jacob compete like a normal nine-year-old, she said, reaffirms her dedication to the Sanders’ as well as her thankfulness for the life-saving decision they made so many years ago.

“I told them there’s not words enough to tell them how much we want to thank you,” Alice said.
“They’re a new part of our family we’re very grateful to have.”