Making the Most Of Their Second Chance

Errica Watkins has spent the last two months watching her 10-year-old daughter, Sylvia, heal and get closer and closer to being her old self.
In November, Watkins, who owns Bashful Boutique in the Avondale Point business district, gave one of her kidneys to Sylvia, who had been on dialysis for quite some time to counteract the effects of cancer that struck her fiver years before.
Sylvia had stopped going to class, and had already begun homebound instruction for the first semester of her fifth year. Sylvia was always “wiped out,” far from the dance-crazed pre-teen she’d been.
Following the surgery, Sylvia, like so many other transplant patients, named her new organ. Passing over names other patients had selected in the past, like “Mother’s Gift,” or “Big Miracle,” Sylvia took the path less traveled. (This is the same kid whose fund-raising page on Facebook was named “Hello Kidney.”)
She named her new kidney “Wiz Khalifa,” in honor of her favorite rapper.
These days, Sylvia is preparing for class with her classmates at St. Andrew’s School of Math and Science, and is gearing up for a postponed audition at Charleston County School of the Arts.
Four weeks ago, Sylvia could barely handle a two-hour fresh air trip to Folly Beach. These days, the worst thing affecting her are serious headaches brought on by the anti-rejection medication she takes to keep her mother’s gift.
Watkins said Sylvia’s headaches can last for hours, and could be part of her life for a while, since she can never come off the medication.
For her part, Errica, who a month ago had to make sure to not get up too quickly because of the caesarean-like scars dotting her abdomen from the laparoscopic procedure, is just glad Sylvia is doing better.