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A toddler who received her father’s kidney in an extremely rare procedure after nearly dying from renal disease has transformed from a “caterpillar into an amazing butterfly”.
Laura Seraficeanu and Sorin Sirbu’s daughter Gloria Sirbu, now three, was born in May 2021 with polycystic kidney disease – a disorder which causes fluid-filled cysts to grow in the kidneys.
Laura, 31, an adult nurse from Leyton in London, was given the diagnosis during an antenatal scan while on holiday in Romania and gave birth there, before travelling back to the UK and going straight to Evelina London’s specialist emergency department at St Thomas’ Hospital.
The couple were told several times that Gloria’s chances of survival were slim – but after receiving life-saving treatment and undergoing surgery, she was discharged at two months old and able to return home for the first time.
At six months old, Gloria then started peritoneal dialysis – a treatment for kidney failure which involves cleaning the blood and could sometimes last up to 20 hours a day – before the opportunity for a kidney transplant arose.
Sorin, 36, an electrician, volunteered to donate his kidney to his daughter as he was a match – and receiving the organ just before her second birthday, Gloria is one of the youngest transplant patients Evelina London has treated.
Laura told PA Real Life: “Gloria had the kidney transplant two days before her second birthday, so we looked at it as the greatest birthday present that she could have received from her dad.
“The transplant has given her the chance to have a relatively normal life – for her to have more freedom, to enjoy life as a normal kid as much as possible.
“There are downsides – the fact that she’ll have to take medication for the rest of her life, and yes, her immunity is not the greatest – but at the moment, she’s having the life of a healthy child.
“She’s blooming, she’s unravelling into this great human being – she’s like a caterpillar that has turned into an amazing butterfly.”
During Laura’s 20-week pregnancy scan, she said she received the news that Gloria had hydronephrosis – a condition where one or both kidneys swell.
At 29 weeks, while Laura was on holiday in Romania visiting her family, she said her scan showed that Gloria had a cyst on one of her kidneys and she was displaying signs of kidney failure.
“One week later, more cysts appeared, and in two weeks’ time, in three weeks’ time, both of her kidneys were full of cysts,” Laura explained.
At 30 weeks, it was confirmed Gloria had polycystic kidney disease and Laura was then induced and gave birth on May 12 2021 at 36 weeks in Romania, with Gloria weighing 5lb 6oz.
At this point, Laura was told that her baby’s chances of survival were “slim” – and given it was during the Covid-19 pandemic and her partner Sorin was not in Romania at the time, she described it as a “heartbreaking, lonely experience”.
“I was hoping for the best, but I prepared myself for the worst,” Laura said.
“I didn’t try to fool myself into wishful thinking … and for the first three days after her birth, she did not make any urine, so we were getting ready for her to pass.”
Sorin flew to Romania and joined Laura after Gloria was born – and on the third day, to her parents’ relief, she finally urinated.
After three weeks in hospital in Romania, the family were discharged as Gloria was deemed well enough to travel, and they flew to London Stansted Airport.
However, during the three-and-a-half hour flight, Gloria’s health deteriorated significantly.
“Gloria’s condition just plummeted during the flight – I don’t know what happened,” Laura said.
“By the time we landed, when the sun actually hit Gloria and I saw how pale she was, that’s when I realised how bad it was – she was white as a wall.”
Gloria had an acute kidney infection and was taking only 12 breaths per minute – the normal respiratory rate for newborns is 30 to 60 breaths per minute.
She was intubated and given medication, before being taken to the paediatric intensive care unit (Picu) at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, which is co-located with St Thomas’ Hospital.
Laura said doctors rushed to their aid and initially could not find Gloria’s pulse.
“It was like a scene out of Grey’s Anatomy … and I was just waiting, hoping for the best outcome as doctors tried to save her life,” she explained.
“They literally brought her back from the dead.”
After one week in Picu, Gloria developed necrotising enterocolitis, known as NEC – a serious condition which causes inflammation of the gut.
She then had an ileostomy, an operation to bring the end of the small bowel to the outside of her stomach to form a stoma, which was later reversed, and she was transferred to a ward.
After around five weeks at Evelina London, Gloria was discharged at two months old, but at six months old, she then had to start peritoneal dialysis for the following 18 months.
“That required us to do 12 hours of peritoneal dialysis a day … it’s like a washing machine,” Laura said.
In May 2023, two days before Gloria’s second birthday, Sorin donated his kidney to his daughter.
Sorin’s surgery took place at Guy’s Hospital while Gloria’s was at Evelina London – and although there were some nerves beforehand, Laura said he was “excited he could give this to her”.
Gloria’s consultant Dr Nick Ware said kidney transplantation in children is relatively rare – last year there were only 119 paediatric transplants in the UK.
He continued: “Gloria is one of the youngest patients we have transplanted.
“We need a child to be around 10kg in order to fit an adult kidney into their abdomen and it often takes at least two years for children with kidney disease to grow to that size.
“We are very fortunate that many of our paediatric patients receive living donor kidneys, often from their parents. However, for patients who don’t have that option, it can be a long wait on the deceased donor waiting list.”
Gloria still has a nasogastric feeding tube for fluids and medication, but her health is continuing to improve, and Sorin has since made a full recovery post-transplant.
During the summer, Laura and Gloria attended the British Transplant Games – where teams from hospitals across the UK compete in a medley of sports – with Gloria taking home a silver medal in the 25-metre race.
Laura said Gloria still has regular check-ups, blood tests and takes medication every day, but she is “blossoming” into a “true butterfly”, and she wants to urge others to consider registering their decision to become organ donors.
“I’m so grateful for all the medical care, for the chance that we’ve been given,” Laura said.
“We are choosing every day to look at the bright side, to make something good out of every bad hand that we’ve been given.”
Speaking about her advice to others, she added: “Keep in mind that it’s often trial and error because the human body is not a computer. You don’t just press a button and the virus is erased.
“Just take every day as it comes and don’t create unrealistic expectations.”
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