‘It’s been heaven’: Offaly mum’s relief as 9-year-old son finally gets liver transplant

"He can be a normal kid again."

A woman in Offaly has said she's looking forward to bringing her son home from the UK after a successful liver transplant. Nine-year-old Charlie Lynch underwent the procedure yesterday and is doing well, his mum Helen told Will Faulkner of Midlands 103's Midlands Today show this morning. The Tullamore boy's liver condition, which he was born with, left him incapacitated. "Charlie was taken from school," Helen said. "He couldn't move, he couldn't bend down, he was in a wheelchair." The family have been waiting for a transplant since November of 2014. In 2016 they moved to the UK to be closer to King's Hospital in London in the hopes of getting a transplant there. They've been offered false hope in the past, Helen explained. Twice they were told a liver had become available but each time the liver turned out to be unsuitable. "Charlie's condition [recently became] very bad and he was at a stage where he couldn't wait any longer," she said. "They told us he was the worst liver patient they had that hadn't had a transplant yet." Finally, this weekend, the family got a call to say there was a liver ready for him. He was airlifted from another hospital and went in for surgery. Thankfully it was third time lucky - the transplant went well and Charlie is recovering in the hospital's ICU. [caption id="attachment_302334" align="alignnone" width="594"] King's College Hospital in London, where Charlie got his transplant.[/caption] "It's been heaven, just that relief... after all these years," said Helen. The young boy has a long road to recovery but once he's better, Helen is hoping he'll be able to come home to Tullamore. "Charlie's been asking so much about his friends back home and his family back home; just to be able to bring him back to seem them... it'll be amazing. "Thankfully it's now all coming to an end, Charlie's journey, and he's getting better and he can be a normal kid again."