For nearly 30 years, Lisa Shanahan has been slowly dying.
In the '90s, she called it "mommy disease," attributing her never-ending fatigue and itchy feeling to just being a mom with three kids while working a full-time job.
"We would go on trips to the ocean and we'd go out for a little stroll on the boardwalk, and I'd have to go back and rest, and I felt like I was a lazy mom,” Shanahan said.
It wasn't until 2007 that her true diagnosis came to light: Shanahan was suffering from primary biliary cholangitis, an autoimmune disease that damages a person's liver.
All those years, and no one had ever diagnosed her properly.
To be cured, Shanahan would need a new kidney, but it would prove difficult, due to her small stature.
"Her only option was to broach the subject of living donation," said Dr. Rolf Barth of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
That's when her son, 19-year-old Colin Hambrook, decided to step in.
He was a match for the donation, and even though his mom didn't want him to risk his health, Hambrook insisted, telling her, "I'm gonna be your Christmas present."
On December 21st, the surgery was performed, and 60 percent of Hambrook's liver replaced the diseased part of his mom's.
Both their livers will now regenerate, and as happy as they are, both Colin and Lisa want their story to provide awareness about the benefits of living donors.
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