Crohn's patient, Michelle Oddy, will undergo a 7-organ risk transplant

A 43-year-old mother will undergo a rare multi-organ transplant considered the most difficult and challenging transplant operation in the world.

Seven organ transplants

Michelle Oddy said she was aware of the dangers of the operation. She was informed that she would be almost 40% more likely to die if she had a transplant of seven organs, but she is willing to take the risk anyway.

Oddy was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in adolescence and the operation will replace his intestines, his colon, his liver, his pancreas, his large and small intestine and half of his stomach.

Oddy said that her health had deteriorated since her diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease at age 14 and that she could only consume liquids.

She said that she was willing to take risks because her body was tired of visiting the hospital. She is also concerned about the effects of her poor health on her family after nearly dying twice.

"It sounds morbid, but it's only a matter of time before I die," she said. "There is a good chance that the transplant does not wake me up at all, it seems really scary and people ask me why I do it but I have no life."

Top of the list of organ donations

She will undergo the 20-hour operation at the Addenbrooke Hospital in Cambridge, the only hospital in the UK to perform a multi-organ transplant.

Surgeon Andrew Butler described the operation as rare and complex. Only four of this type of surgery are performed each year.

"We have performed about 100 procedures of this type and since 1992, about 1,500 intestinal grafts have been identified in adults," he said.

Oddy now ranks high on the list of organ donations and wears a ringtone with her all the time to alert her when a donor becomes available. All organs will be of the same person.

Oddy considers the operation as his only chance to heal and hopes that the operation will be completed in the coming months. After the operation, she will stay in the hospital for 10 months and at home for 14 months during her convalescence.

Ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.