Transplant survivor gets a laptop
SALEM – Her friends. That’s what Madison Rose has missed the most while recuperating from an emergency liver transplant earlier this year.
Now she has a way to visit with them, even when she has to rest.
Brandy Castle of SAE in Atlanta presents a MacBook to Madison Rose on June 10. With them is Madison's brother Jordan, who donated a portion of his liver to her in January.
Last week, the 13-year-old received an unexpected gift: a laptop, complete with video and skype hookup. Her brother, 20-year-old Jordan, got to witness his sister’s excitement because he was volunteering in the dunking tank during Field Day at East Salem Elementary where their mom, Diane Rose, is principal.
The laptop was hand-delivered to Salem by a friend of their aunt who lives in Charlotte, N.C., and was donated by SAE Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Ga.
SAE Administrative Manager Brandy Castle, who has known Madison’s aunt, Cora Player, since they went to Abingdon High School together, said she just wanted to do something for Madison, “so I went to my company and asked if they would donate a 13-inch MacBook to her.”
The two friends drove up from Charlotte on June 10 to deliver the laptop.
It will help Madison keep up with her school work at Andrew Lewis Middle School where she is finishing the seventh grade.
Since returning to Salem in March after the transplant operation in Pittsburgh in January,
Madison has been doing school work with tutors. By the end of the school year, she was getting that tutoring at ALMS, which made it possible for her to eat lunch with her friends several days a week.
Still, that wasn’t enough time for young teens to talk. “I’m going to use my laptop to visit with friends during the summer,” Madison explained, as Castle showed her the various features of the MacBook, including music and songs.
“We set it up for you with Garage Band, and you can make music and songs,” Castle pointed out.
“Oh, great,” Madison exclaimed, when she saw the laptop had iTunes.
Madison and Jordan underwent surgery Jan. 10, she at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and he at a different hospital.
Together, their surgeries operations lasted most of the day.
The daughter of East Salem Elementary Principal Diane Rose and her husband, Tom, was flown to Pennsylvania on Jan. 6 after her liver started failing.
Symptoms came on suddenly. She was hospitalized on Jan. 4 for tests, and after doctors were unable to disgnose and treat her, they decided she needed to be transferred to the Pittsburgh hospital.
Several of the Rose family were tested for compatibility before tests showed Jordan, a Virginia Western College student, would be the best match.
