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Kiersten Miles NJ babysitter donates part of liver to save baby she cares for

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Biliary Atresia diagnoses that Kiersten Miles donated towards baby Talia Rosko. Image via cincinnatichildrens.org
Kiersten Miles
Pictured, New Jersey nanny, Kiersten Miles and the baby girl whose life she saved, Talia Rosko. Image via Facebook.

Kiersten Miles a NJ nanny has saved the life of a Talia Rosko a baby whose care she had been charged with after donating part of her liver.

Kiersten Miles a 22 year old New Jersey woman hired out to be a babysitter for Talia Rosko has donated part of her liver to save the child under her care.

The gesture that ultimately saved the now 16 months old baby girl’s life after at the age of two months old being diagnosed with terminal liver disease.

At the time, doctors in Jackson, NJ told the infant’s parents, George and Farra Rosko, that unless Talia received a transplant, Talia likely wouldn’t live past the age of two.

Enter Kiersten Miles.

Seven months later, and struggling to find a donor, the family employed local college student, then-21-year-old Kiersten Miles, as a nanny.

Within three weeks of caring for the Roskos’ three children, Kiersten told them she wanted to see if she was a match for Talia.

Tests revealed she was. 

This month, doctors successfully completed a liver transplant for the now-16-month-old. While still in recovery, Kiersten speaking to media sought to raise awareness of the dire need for more organ donors.

Told Talia’s dad, George via PIX 11: ‘We brought [Talia] to her two-month check-up and our pediatrician right away said her eyes were off.

‘She said we have to go see a specialist immediately.’

Kiersten Miles
Pictured, Kiersten Miles with Talia Rosko.
Kiersten Miles
Bilary Artresia the condition for which Kiersten Miles donated part of her liver to save the life of baby Talia Rosko under her care.

George and Farra took their daughter for an ultrasound and biopsy – which resulted in a diagnosis of biliary atresia.

The rare disease occurs when the liver’s ducts become backed up with bile, destroying cells and the liver itself. The ultrasound had shown Talia’s liver to be completely obliterated noted the dailymail.

Doctors told George and Farra that their daughter would need a Kasai – a procedure that surgically removes the backed-up ducts and and gallbladder, and replaces them with a segment of the small intestine.  

But it was only temporary, and Talia ultimately needed a transplant.

The little girl went on the transplant list In June, around the same time that Kiersten, then 21, was hired to be a summer nanny for the Roskos’ three children.

Kiersten said she became quickly attached to Talia, who was nine months old then. She’d only known the Rosko family for three weeks when she decided she wanted to be tested as a potential match for Talia so she could donate part of her liver.  

‘I was like, “Kiersten this is not like donating blood, This is serious. You need to talk to your parents and you need to like do research”,’ Talia’s mother Farra told Pix 11.

‘She was like, “I already did.” She was like, “I’m compatible”.’

On January 11, after six months of testing and paperwork, Kiersten was admitted to hospital where she donated part of her organ in a bid to save the child she had become endeared with.

The operation lasted about 14 hours and was successful.

Kiersten Miles
Pictured, Kiersten Miles with baby Talia Rosko

Before the surgery, Kiersten had been told that she would never be able to donate again – even if one day she had a child in the same situation and she was a match. But that didn’t matter.

She told WTXF: ‘It’s such a small sacrifice when you compare it to saving a life. Some of her doctors said she possibly wouldn’t have made it past two years old. 

‘All I had to do was be in the hospital for a week and a five-inch scar. I don’t know, it just seemed like such a small sacrifice to me.’

So successful had the operation been that Talia was discharged after only nine days when the average hospital stay is 14 days.

Kiersten said her first two days of recovery were the worst but that she’s feeling better now. She says she hopes more people will decide to become organ donors.

New Jersey, the girls’ home state, ranks 44 out of 50 states, in regard to the percentage of residents registered as organ donors.

She said: ‘Yeah it’s a few months of recovery but it’s definitely worth it.’

For more information on becoming an organ donor or to register, visit https://www.organdonor.gov/register.html

Kiersten Miles
Kiersten Miles pictured on the left.
Talia Rosko
Pictured, baby Talia Rosko
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