Transplant Patient Gets Fish Wish

About a year ago, 6-year-old James Brown of Thomasville, Ga., unlike his namesake, did not feel good.

Quick work by his family, a quick diagnosis by local doctors, and quick action by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta saved his life, for James' liver was rapidly failing.

James returned to Atlanta on Wednesday, supposedly for a checkup. But Children's and the Georgia Aquarium had something else in mind. After a drive that began at 5 in the morning, James Brown and his mom arrived at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

But James's usual routine of being poked and stuck was changed drastically.

A year ago, James was a perfectly healthy boy. Then a virus attacked his liver.

"It is life threatening," said director of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's pediatric liver transplant department Dr. Rene Romero. "And if it's not recognized uh early on uh then there can be serious consequences and a high mortality."

A liver transplant saved his life. And now he's doing fine. So on Wednesday, he got his Fish Wish.

Led by Michaelanne Thomas of the Georgia Aquarium, and accompanied by his mom and child life specialist Brittany Hobbs, James saw things he had never seen before. And he saw something he had always wanted to see.

Trips to Atlanta for James and his mom have always meant something medically related.

"These families are back and forth to the hospital all the time," said child life specialist Brittany Hobbs. "And they really don't get an opportunity to do really fun stuff outside the hospital a lot. So, I know this was special for them."

It sure was for his mom.

"It was a nice time," said Shamika Brown, James' mother. "It was a blessing."

Only 100-to-300 children across America have acute liver failure like James had. Dr. Romero believes James has weathered the worst and should go on to live a normal life.

And at the end of his Fish Wish, James Brown felt -- well -- you know.