THIS Sunday, November 17 is DonateLife Thank You Day, a national day to acknowledge the generosity of organ and tissue donors, which hits home for Hamilton’s Mitton family who in 2019 received a life-saving liver transplant for their son, Max.

Each year, thousands of lives are saved and transformed through the generosity of deceased and living organ and tissue donors, and their families.

Six-year-old Hamilton boy, Max Mitton, was only 19 months old when his world, as well as parents Sandi and Jake and older brother Lenny’s, was turned upside down when Max’s health took a turn very quickly, from what remains today as a mystery illness that plunged him into acute liver failure.

“He started going yellow like jaundice, that’s what sort of sparked it,” Sandi said.

A trip to the doctor and a blood test revealed high inflammation of Max’s liver, and after a full liver function test, Max and Sandi were immediately flown in an airwing ambulance to the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne.

After a few weeks at the RCH, the Mitton family were told that Max would need an urgent liver transplant for any chance of survival.

“We’d never known anyone who had gone through it,” Jake said.

“When Max and Sandi got whisked off in the airwing I thought, they’ll get him up there, chuck him up on the drip, give him a few needles and he will be back by Monday.

“It was months – four months – we were in Melbourne for.

“Kids who are 19 months old are meant to be playing with cars, not laying in a hospital bed.”

After around five days on the organ transplant waitlist, time was ticking and the urgency for a donor match meant that Sandi was being worked up as a living donor to donate part of her liver to Max.

“It was very intense; I had to have a heap of tests to see if I was even a match,” she said.

It was only hours before Sandi and Max were both due to go into major surgery that they got confirmation of an amazing organ donation match for Max.

“Once we got confirmation, it all happened extremely quickly and Max was in surgery for about 10 hours,” Sandi said.

“It was a rollercoaster of emotions, because obviously we were happy that Max was going to get what we call ‘the gift of life’, and I could actually be there with him and not in surgery, but on the other hand we felt so much sadness for the family that had just lost a loved one.”

It was a long and slow road to recovery with lots of medication, blood tests, illnesses and follow up appointments following surgery with the potential Max may have required a bone marrow transplant as well, however he fortunately was able to recover well enough that he was taken off the bone marrow transplant list.

Today, Max has almost completed his first year of school and can be described as energetic, cheeky and fun- loving, with a playful fascination with cars, bikes and anything with wheels.

He is a healthy, happy, growing boy who shows great pride in his scar from his ‘new liver’ and has been enthused to share his story to anyone he meets.

“(He’s) growing like a mushroom, and loves being in Prep this year … he thinks his big brother is the best also,” Sandi said.

Thank You Day this Sunday has been an important day for organ and tissue recipients who have endless gratitude to their donor and donor families – without their gift, children like Max would not be here today.

Four in five Australians say they support donation, but only one in three (36 per cent) are registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register.

There are currently around 1800 Australians on the organ waitlist and 14,000 more on dialysis for kidney failure who need Australia’s help.

One organ donor can save the lives of up to seven people and change the lives of many more through eye and tissue donation.

“I encourage people to talk about organ donation with your family and friends so your family knows what you want,” Sandi said.

“You don’t realise how many people need organs and how many people are on the waitlist for organ donation until you’re presented with it yourself.”

“It’s someone’s second chance, someone to get a second crack at life basically,” Jake added.

“We can’t thank our organ donor and their families enough for what they have given us,” Sandi said.

To register as an organ and tissue donor, go to donatelife.gov.au