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Surgical Expertise Specifically for Kids and Teens

�ֲ���ý surgeon Dr. Daniel Robie removed the tumor at Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Sebastian underwent chemotherapy at �ֲ���ý Children’s Specialty Care in Jacksonville. “Everything was going really well and we were getting back to our lives,” explains Mirela, who’d had her second son, Dominic, while Sebastian was in treatment.

But three years later, Sebastian relapsed, this time with a tumor on his liver. Sebastian endured another surgery and more chemo as well as radiation. “Whatever needed to be done, we did it. This is my child’s life,” says Mirela. “And each time the caring and compassion of our doctors reassured us that Sebastian was going to get through this and be okay.”

In September of 2019, Sebastian encountered another setback. The portal vein leading to his liver was blocked, possibly caused by scar tissue from his previous surgery. Sebastian was not getting good blood flow to his liver and something needed to be done — quickly. �ֲ���ý pediatric transplant surgeon Dr. Stephen Dunn flew from �ֲ���ý Children’s Hospital, Delaware in Wilmington, Del., to Jacksonville to assist Dr. Robie with the surgery.

Explains Mirela, “It was a long surgery and in the end they felt it was too risky to finish. There was concern that the liver could be punctured. You hear that and think, ‘What else?’” But there was something else. “Dr. Dunn came to us with a plan. He was so honest, so straightforward, yet so empathetic. I could tell as he spoke to us he was just as worried about Sebastian’s well-being as we were. So, when he suggested we come to Delaware for a procedure I only had to ask ‘When?’”