A man who turned a “luminous” yellow due to a rare, life-threatening disease is speaking out about the condition to raise awareness.
Kieran Cooper, from Northwich in Cheshire, first turned yellow when he was just two days old.
He was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare condition where the gallbladder does not form properly.
He had his first operation when he was just seven weeks old, followed by a liver transplant just before his first birthday.
However, in January this year – 24 years after his first liver transplant – he turned yellow again and was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
“It was a shock [turning yellow]. I looked like one of the Simpsons,” the 25-year-old said.
The yellow hue was caused by the build-up of a substance called bilirubin within his system.
Mr Cooper spent five weeks in hospital before undergoing a second liver transplant on 28 February.
His skin has now returned to a normal colour, but he had a “painful” recovery and had to relearn how to walk.
“I go to the hospital every six weeks and I have to take medication for the rest of my life,” he said.
“I’m glad I’m back on the mend and I’m grateful to be alive.”
Mr Cooper’s mother, 54-year-old retail worker Kerry Cooper, said it was a “rough” experience for the family as they feared he might not make it.
She said: “He wasn’t feeling well [one day] and the next morning I thought, ‘oh my world he is yellow.’
“We got blue-lighted to Birmingham and he was there for five weeks.
“He had been yellow for a few months but it got worse while he was in Birmingham. He was yellow but he went luminous, we joked saying he looked like Bart Simpson.
“He stood out from everybody. Every time we went out for air everyone was looking at him.”
The most terrifying moments were when he was in intensive care, she said.
“It was awful. I absolutely feared for his life.”
Mr Cooper said while his skin has since returned to a normal colour, he is still “self-conscious” about going out in public.
“I wanted to share my story and what I’ve been through,” he said.
“You don’t want to go through the stuff I’ve been through, because I’ve been to hell and back.”
What is biliary artresia?
The NHS says that biliary atresia is a disease of the bile ducts which affects newborn babies.
The rare condition occurs when the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder do not develop as expected and are blocked.
Symptoms include jaundice and it can cause serious liver damage.
