A baby born with no gallbladder and in need of a liver transplant was so yellow he looked like he had been "coloured in with a highlighter", his mum says.<br /><br />Judah Brooks arrived after a perfectly healthy pregnancy but a few days later mum Katie Brooks, 27, noticed his skin was turning yellow.<br /><br />After an ultrasound, his parents were told not to be concerned but monitor his condition.<br /><br />Worried Katie then took Judah to the paediatrician and was referred to another doctor where he received another ultrasound.<br /><br />Judah was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia - a condition in infants in which the bile ducts outside and inside the liver are scarred and blocked.<br /><br />He was put on an organ transplant list and was eventually given a new liver.<br /><br />Katie, a stay-at-home mum, from Charleston, West Virginia, US, said: "It was a whirlwind. <br /><br />''We were in the midst of Covid and only two of us could visit Judah.<br /><br />"It was super hard, you think you are coming home with a healthy baby and boom you are hit with this rare disease that you have never heard of.<br /><br />"We had a perfectly healthy pregnancy ad birth we thought he was healthy.<br /><br />"It started developing a few days after birth but we thought nothing of it.<br /><br />"After two months he was extremely yellow, he looked like he had been coloured by a highlighter."<br /><br />Judah was born in October 2020, at the Women's and Children's Hospital, Charleston weighing 6lbs 15oz.<br /><br />At just a few days old, Judah was taken for an ultrasound as his parents were concerned his skin was going yellow.<br /><br />The doctors were unable to locate his gallbladder but weren't concerned as they thought it might just be very small.<br /><br />Later that day, Judah was discharged and his parents were told to monitor his condition.<br /><br />Katie said: "I was worried that they didn't see the gallbladder. On the way home I got onto Google and it said he had Biliary Atresia.<br /><br />"The next day I took him to the pediatrician who referred us to the doctor who gave him another ultrasound at two weeks old.''<br /><br />The family were referred to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Centre in December 2020.<br /><br />At seven weeks old, Judah was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia - a condition in infants in which the bile ducts outside and inside the liver are scarred and blocked.<br /><br />In December 2020, Judah underwent an operation called the kasai procedure which involves removing the blocked bile ducts and replaces them with a segment of the child's own small intestine.<br /><br />In April 2021, Judah went through the evaluation process for a liver transplant which ensures patients are well enough to cope with the transplant.<br /><br />A month later in May, Judah was put onto the transplant list and received his match 6 weeks later on June 13, 2021.<br /><br />After a successful surgery, Judah was placed in ICU to recover and then the family spent two months in the Ronald McDonald House under close observation.<br /><br />Despite having a brand new liver, Judah will always be without a gallbladder.
