Nine-year-old Michigan boy receives five organ transplants after waiting nearly his entire life for a suitable organ

A Michigan family is celebrating the miraculous gift of life after a perfect donor organ was finally found for their son who needed not one, but five organ transplants.

Jacob Perez, a nine-year-old boy, has waited his entire life to find a donor match for five organ transplants, including a new stomach, colon, small intestine, liver and pancreas. He suffers from a rare disease called microvillus entrapment, which prevents his body from absorbing nutrients.

According to Jakob’s mother, fewer than 100 people worldwide are affected by this disease. Because of his illness, the organs had to come from a single donor – a child of Jakob’s size.

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“He can eat and drink, but nothing is absorbed by his body. That’s why he has to be fed intravenously for his entire life,” explained his mother, Mickaela Perez. Jacob is known as a light to everyone who crosses his path. His family explains that despite all the health problems he had in his short life, he was always in good spirits.

“He has a lot of friends. He loves our community and is kind of the Mr. Rogers of the neighborhood,” Mickaela said of her little boy. Now, after nine years of hoping and praying for a miracle, the family has finally received the call they were waiting for.

“They called us Monday afternoon and said, ‘We have a match and you need to come to Pittsburgh,'” Mickaela recalls. Jacob and his family rushed to Pittsburgh, where he underwent surgery just two days after the call, on Wednesday.

“It was surreal. We were at a point where we weren’t sure if it would ever happen. We tried to prepare as best we could,” said Joshua Perez, Jacob’s father. The Perez family stresses the importance of being a donor regardless of age and expresses their deep gratitude for this life-saving gift.

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“We just want to say thank you. That’s not even enough, but just thank you. I hope we meet you one day and that you know that we will cherish this gift of life forever,” Mickaela said.

A benefit for Jakob is planned for August 24th at the Chesaning Conservation Club. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), microvillus inclusion disease is an “extremely rare inherited intestinal disorder (enteropathy) that typically becomes apparent within hours or days of birth.”

Children with the disease can suffer from severe dehydration and a “lack of necessary nutrients,” according to NORD. They can also “suffer from growth and weight failure (failure to thrive) and/or a disturbance in the body’s acid-base balance, which is important for regulating the composition of body fluids (acidosis).”