FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE: In 2018, Mustapha, then 9-month-old, suffered biliary atresia, a blockage in the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the small intestines, causing the bile to accumulate in the liver and destroy it.
With his liver damaged, Mustapha needed a transplant before he was one year old, and thankfully, his mother's liver matched his, and she was ready to donate. However, the operation could not be done in Sierra Leone, his country, because no hospital there was equipped enough to do it successfully.