Soldier donates liver to nephew

Jerry Harding was just a couple of weeks away from a year-long deployment to Afghanistan earlier this month when his young nephew became suddenly and seriously ill.

Three-year-old Joshua Harding of Spokane hadn’t been feeling well for a few days. He was droopy, lethargic and sick to his stomach. At first, everyone assumed it was a stomach bug. And then his mom, Rachell Redman, noticed the whites of his eyes were yellow.

Tests showed Josh’s liver was failing. No one knows what caused it.

And doctors said he wouldn’t make it more than a few days without a new liver.

“He was going downhill,” says Keith Harding, Josh’s dad.

While Joshua waited for a donor liver, his family considered other options. What about a live donor? An adult could give a portion of his or her liver to Josh.

Keith and Rachell both have medical issues that made them unsuitable donors. But this is where Jerry Harding — fresh off a year’s tour of duty in Iraq and set for Afghanistan — comes in.

Jerry drove his brother Keith to Seattle since Josh was being treated at the children’s hospital there. He watched the boy’s condition deteriorate as he waited a few days for a donor.

“I just had this weird feeling I needed to stay,” Jerry says.

It’s a good thing he did.

After tests proved him to be a good match, Jerry Harding ended up giving about 20 percent of his liver to his nephew in an operation about a week and a half ago.

“I haven’t gotten to know him that well, but that will change,” Jerry says.

Joshua tolerated the operation well but had some bleeding in his brain, his father says. The brain swelling has gone down, but Josh returned to surgery Friday night to fix a leaky bile duct.

Jerry has been released from the hospital.

For his part, Jerry called the operation “not too bad.”

Doctors said his liver would regenerate over time. He plans on fulfilling his tour in Afghanistan, though it probably will be several months before he’s healthy enough for such a strenuous mission.

“My whole thinking behind it was, as young as Josh is, he deserves a chance,” Jerry Harding says.

Josh’s sudden illness came as a surprise, his parents say. He had hardly ever been sick.

He loves to jump on the family’s trampoline and watch “SpongeBob,” his dad says. And they hope he’ll return to all of those activities once he recovers.

“He’s a real easygoing kid. He smiles a lot,” Keith Harding says.

“He’s a joy. He’s smart as a whip.”

Adds Keith: “We want Jerry to know how special he is. We think of him as a hero.”