Weymouth Toddler With Rare Disease Finally Sees His Hero, Alan Jackson
How sweet is this story between this brave toddler and Alan Jackson?
Weymouth’s Stephen Squillante, aka, “Little Steve,” was born with a rare liver disease called biliary atresia. He’s only a toddler and for his entire life he has had to fight this disease. Biliary atresia is a condition in infants where the bile ducts outside and inside the liver are scarred and blocked. Bile can’t flow into the intestine, so bile builds up in the liver and damages it. The damage leads to scarring, loss of liver tissue and function, and cirrhosis.
Little Steve had his first surgery at 5 weeks old. The hope was to prolong the use of his native liver. Unfortunately, that surgery was not as successful as they hoped so he had to be placed on the liver transplant waiting list.
Alan Jackson Got Little Steve Through The Hard Times
While on the transplant list Little Steve had a long medical road of a lot of stays at Boston Children’s (over 60 nights) in the first two years of his life. During this time, Alan Jackson, somehow became this two year old’s favorite person to watch on YouTube for all his blood draws (over 160 blood draws in two years!) and medical procedures. Those medical procedures ranged from bile drains to a feeding tube he had for 14 months.
On August 2, 2023, Little Steve finally got his liver transplant after almost a year on the transplant list. Amazingly, his mother, Shannon, was his living donor. Wheeling him down to the operating room there was only one thing that his parents knew would keep Steve calm. That was watching Alan Jackson! In fact, Little Steve rocked out to an Alan Jackson music video while heading into surgery.
Alan Jackson Performed In Boston And Little Steve Danced All Night
As fate would have it, exactly one year to the day, (August 2, 2024) Alan Jackson performed a show in Boston. Little Steve’s parents truly think it’s a sign from God because the odds of all of this have to be astronomical! They bought a suite at the TD Garden to celebrate with Steve, friends and family and Little Steve danced from that box all night long (especially when “Little Bity” was sung!)
This year, Little Steve’s family created a 501(c)(3) called Tiny Transplant Titans. The mission of the organization Tiny Transplant Titans is to provide support to children who have received life-saving transplants, those waiting for their gift of life, those needing a transplant in the future – and their families! They also strive to raise awareness for organ donation. Consider donating to this wonderful cause.
Five Country Stars That Are Licensed Pilots
Alan Jackson
Country Music Hall of Fame member Jackson was flying to and from gigs early in his career and learned how to fly by watching and learning from the pilot. He told us, “When I started flying to work, I got interested in watching the pilot who flew me, and he taught me. At that time, we had a farm with a pretty big grass strip, and I had a plane with amphibious gear so I could land on water, the lake. I just kind of flew around Nashville. I still have my license; I just don’t fly. Denise (his wife) got tired of my flying and worrying about me.”
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