http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/ameri ... splant.ap/

Mexican Consulate seeks dad of girl who needs transplant

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- The Mexican Consulate is searching for the father of a 16-year-old girl in need of a liver transplant in hopes that he is a suitable donor.

Ana Esparza's liver failure in 2001 rallied the immigrant community after local hospitals refused to perform the transplant because her mother was an illegal alien without health insurance.

The girl had a successful liver transplant later that year in Miami, Florida, but the organ began to fail late last year, her mother and doctors have said.

"She is in really bad shape," her mother, Maria Munoz, said Thursday. "She is on the machine; the infection is getting worse."

Munoz said her daughter since December has been at Children's Memorial Hospital, which refused to perform her transplant five years ago.

Munoz said the hospital is willing to pay for a transplant, but a matching donor has not been found.

Hospital spokesman Chris James said Friday the girl is in intensive care and currently is too sick to undergo a transplant. "As far as who will pay what, I don't think that has been determined," he said.

Consulate officials said they sent out an alert Thursday seeking help finding the girl's father, Juan Esparza. Consulate spokesman Cesar Romero said the consulate would pay the man's air fare to bring him to Chicago to see if he is an organ match.

Maria Munoz said the girl's father left the family around the time of her transplant and has a strained relationship with her daughter.