This father and son both needed 4-organ transplants. They want more people to give the gift of life

Nearly 16 years after Darryl Wallis had a rare, life-changing transplant operation for four organs, his five-year-old son had to undergo the same procedure just two weeks ago. Now, he's calling on more Ontarians to consider registering to become organ donors.

At the age of one, Wallis was diagnosed with hollow visceral myopathy, a rare type of intestinal pseudo-obstruction that would stop his digestive system from moving food properly or absorbing nutrients. For the first 20 years of his life, Wallis had to eat and drink intravenously until he found a liver, bowel, stomach and pancreas transplant from a donor.

The four-organ transplant recipient, who went on to become a pharmacist, said doctors told him his rare illness would not be genetically passed down to his children. But at the age of one, his son Owen began to show similar signs:  bloated abdomen, frequent vomiting and not being able to grow or gain enough weight for his age.

"It wasn't until genetic testing came out essentially that we confirmed what we hoped wasn't true and that he did have the condition," Wallis told CBC Toronto.

Wallis said his son suffered an acute septic episode at the age of two when his intestinal tract became infected, spreading throughout his body, and his small bowel had to be removed. That's when the toddler was put on the organ transplant list.

"It's like a kick to the stomach," said Jamie Wallis, Owen's mother. 

"I knew through Darryl and his mom ... everything that they'd been through throughout his childhood and his adult years and how hard his life was. And then to picture my son, going through that same life ... it was terrifying."

After waiting roughly two years, the young boy had the 12-hour operation to receive the four organs on July 30 at Toronto's SickKids hospital, and is doing better than expected, his father said. The parents don't know who the donor was, he said.

"All we know is that somebody would have been about his size because he is only five years old and quite small for his age," he said.

In November, it will be 16 years since Wallis received the life-saving transplantation at Toronto General Hospital in 2007. Dr. Anand Ghanekar, a transplant surgeon at Toronto General Hospital, said without the transplant, Wallis wouldn't have been able to live, with no other alternative options.

"For many people, the only option is an organ transplant from a deceased donor," said Ghanekar, who specializes in living and deceased abdominal organ donor transplantation in adults and children.

Before going on the transplant wait list, the father had gone into end-stage liver failure after having to rely on IV fluids for 20 years. 

"The doctors essentially told my family, we're going to try to keep him alive long enough for the transplantation technology to advance far enough," Wallis said. 

Wallis said a lot of the same doctors and nurses who operated on him in 2007 were involved in his son's transplant operation 16 years later.