Parents of a Bradford girl who had three life-or-death liver transplants face reliving the agony as their young son waits for the same operation.

Kabeel Mazhar, seven, has gone on a waiting list for an organ swap following in the footsteps of his sister Romesa, now 12, who finally underwent a successful operation four years ago.

Both suffer from the rare life-threatening liver illness cryptogenic cirrhosis which is taking an increasing toll on Kabeel's health.

Both youngsters were born with the disease which progressively damages the liver, increasingly preventing it breaking down chemicals in the blood.

Fewer than forty people in the country have cryptogenic cirrhosis - the cause of which is unknown.

Now Kabeel faces a wait for a liver to become available after a series of tests were completed last week at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge - Britain's leading liver transplant centre.

Romesa's body rejected the first two organs she was given and doctors feared she would not pull through a third operation. But they carried out the transplant following pleas from her parents Mazhar Hussain and Parveen Mazhar.

Mr Hussain, of Bradford Road, Frizinghall, said Kabeel and the entire family was preparing to face again the trauma of the operation without which Kabeel, a pupil at St Walburga's Primary School, would not survive.

His condition had worsened in recent weeks but they hoped he was strong enough to cope with it.

"If he does not have a liver transplant then he would die - that is the bottom line," he said.

"We found out four days after he was born that he had the condition which really was shocking and now he has to go through all that his sister did.

"He has got to a stage where he is definitely going to go downhill and doctors are getting a little concerned.

"Now he is on the waiting list and he will have a transplant as soon as they find a liver for him which could be tomorrow or could be in three months.

"They say it has a 70 per cent success rate although anything could go wrong like in Romesa's case - she had to have three transplants and spent one-and-a-half years in hospital.

"It does bring back bad memories for me and my wife and Romesa.

"She tries to encourage him and tells him not to give up and fight back and we hope the result will be positive at the end of the day - all the family will be praying for him and he will get lots of encouragement.

"We have a lot of faith in the medical teams who did a great job with Romesa and we are hoping they will have the same success for Kabeel."

Mr Hussain, who has two other children Azkah, eight, and Shoaib, 18 months, who do not have the condition, said Romesa, a pupil at Ladderbanks Middle School, had recovered well from her transplants although she was not as strong as other youngsters her age and still suffered trauma including nightmares following the operations.

Doctors were continuing to monitor her condition as drugs given to her to prevent rejection of her liver had taken a toll on her kidneys.

"After she rejected the third liver initially the consultants said to me they didn't think she would make it in surgery again but me and my wife believed she would pull through and asked them to give her one more chance.

"The third one was a success and she was out of hospital in six weeks.

"She still has the emotional scars from all that trauma and sometimes has bad dreams but she is healthy and trying to lead as much a normal life as she can."

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