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Liver Donor Sets Wheels In Motion

Tribune photo by D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

Robert, Ana and 15-month-old Savannah Anselmo host a kickoff for the Ride for Savvy Rally at East Coast Pizza in Riverview. Robert Anselmo is riding his motorcycle from Florida to North Dakota to raise awareness for the Children’s Organ Transplant Association.

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 6, 2008

Updated:

RIVERVIEW - Even Ana Anselmo has a difficult time believing this is the same child she brought into the world 15 months ago.

"I guess I had mommy vision," she said. "Your mind won't let you see the truth. She was always such a happy baby, so I could never really see how truly sick she was until now, when I look back at the photos and compare them to the healthy toddler I have today."

The photos, some taken just six months ago, show the same cherubic face, dimples, smile and big brown eyes. However, instead of the pink cheeks Savannah Anselmo sports today, the photos show a pronounced sallow complexion.

But it's the eyes that are the most telling. In the early photos, the whites of Savannah's eyes are ochre, a sign of jaundice caused by a disorder related to the transport of bile to the liver.

Using her craft skills, Ana Anselmo has placed before and after photos into a small scrapbook for her husband, Robert, to carry with him during his 4,500-mile cross-country Ride for Savvy. The photos of his daughter will serve as his personal testament to the miracles that happen when people agree to become organ donors.

Savannah is among one in 15,000 babies born each year with biliary atresia, a disease that causes inflammation and obstruction of the bile ducts, causing bile to back up into the liver. The bile destroys the healthy liver and forms scar tissue, further trapping bile and causing cirrhosis and eventually liver failure.

Savannah was at end-stage liver disease when she received her transplant in December. Without it, she had only months to live.

Nineteen people die each day waiting for organ transplants, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. However, people of all ages, with few exclusions, are potential organ and tissue donors.

That's the message Robert Anselmo hopes to spread during his Ride for Savvy, which kicked off May 28 with a rally at East Coast Pizza in Riverview before Anselmo hit the road the following day on his motorcycle. He is traveling to Moorhead, Minn., where Ana Anselmo's brother Ozzie Peraza has organized a motorcycle run June 7 to help raise money to pay Savannah's medical bills through the Children's Organ Transplant Association.

On his way there and back, Robert Anselmo will make stops to promote organ donor awareness and COTA, a national nonprofit association that helps children and young adults who need lifesaving transplants. Among the items Anselmo will carry are plastic COTA wrist bands, organ donor awareness pins and organ donation cards. Cabela's outdoor sporting goods store in Hazelwood, Mo., has agreed to promote the event with door prizes and activities.

"The Ride for Savvy is a fundraiser for Savannah's COTA fund, but also a ride in honor of our donor angel," Ana Anselmo said. "Not a day goes by that I don't think of the little girl who gave her life. It was the right decision, but her family didn't have to make it. How do you say thank-you for a gift like that? There are no words. This family gave me my daughter. She wouldn't be here to giggle, to throw temper tantrums, to take her first step."

Before receiving the call Dec. 29 that a liver match had been found for Savannah, she was too weak to begin crawling. Following her transplant, Savannah skipped the crawling stage and went straight to walking while she was recovering at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden, N.J., near the hospital where the transplant took place.

"Now she's nearly on track with all her milestones," Ana Anselmo said. "She's a healthy little toddler."

"You can't talk about Savannah's gift without talking about the need that's still out there," Robert Anselmo said. "I'll be showing this scrapbook and talking about organ donations to anyone who will listen. This is real to us, and I want to make it real to everyone else."

For information, call (800) 366-2682 or go to www.cotaforsavannaa.com.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

To donate, send checks or money orders payable to COTA with "In honor of Savannah Anselmo" on the memo line to Children's Organ Transplant Association, 2501 COTA Drive, Bloomington IN 47403.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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