Nine-year-old Oscar recovering at home after multi-organ transplant

29 April 2025 - Three years after a small intestine, liver and colon transplant, Oscar Cromwell is back at home with his family in Cambridge

Oscar is now recovering well after undergoing a life-saving triple organ transplant under the care of the paediatric liver transplant surgeons and paediatric hepatologists at King’s College Hospital. The nine-year-old was born with gastroschisis, a rare condition which happens during pregnancy and causes the intestines to develop outside the stomach. Oscar spent the first year of his life in hospital undergoing continuous treatment, but as time went on his liver began to deteriorate.

Oscar’s mother, Sinead Cafferkey, explained: “Oscar went through so much when he was a tiny baby. He needed surgery on his bowel when he was just a few months old, and as time went on, we knew that his best chance of life would be a small intestine, liver and colon transplant.”

Oscar was three years old when he joined the waiting list for a multi-organ transplant, and three years later in 2021, his family received a call to say that the moment for his surgery had come.

Sinead explained: “We knew that this could be a lifeline for Oscar, and after years of waiting, we had a call in the middle of the night asking us to come to King’s for his transplant. We will be forever grateful to the family who made the incredible decision to give Oscar the gift of life. He would not be here now without them.”

Oscar is now back at home with his family, and recently celebrated the third anniversary of his multi-organ transplant.

Carly Bambridge, Clinical Nurse Specialist at King’s College Hospital, who has supported Oscar and his family, said: “We couldn’t be happier with the progress Oscar has made and we are thrilled to hear that he’s enjoying all the things a nine-year-old should be, including going to school and playing with his friends.

“Oscar will continue to need monitoring and support over the coming months and years, but so far he is going from strength to strength.”