Dexter teen to start the transplant process thanks to the Call For Action Team

DEXTER, Mich (WXYZ) - A Dexter teenager has been given a second chance at life thanks to a loving family who contacted our Call For Action Team.

15-year-old Ariel Fischer suffers from a rare bile duct disease called Primary Sclerocing Cholangitis.  Her liver is only operating at 10%, if it falls below that all her other organs will begin shutting down.

Ariel is in desperate need of a transplant in order to survive.

Ariel's mother Melinda Maihofer said Blue Cross couldn't agree on how to cover a living transplant for the teen.  They considered her a child and would not cover a transplant for her at the Mayo Clinic, but at 100 pounds she is adult size, so pediatric facilities didn't want to perform the surgery.

So in the middle of all the red tape sat Ariel, slowing dying each day.

"I didn't want to watch Ariel die" said her Grandmother Deborah Osborne who called 7 Action News.

Her grandmother called us, and we called Blue Cross.

"Thanks to Action News, Blue Cross changed their mind and will cover Ariel at Mayo."

State Senator Rebekah Warren also made a call to Blue Cross.

Ariel is now in the process of her transplant evaluation.  She already has 10 family members willing to give her part of their liver.

"It's like a wish come true" Ariel says.  She's already had one come true.  Make-A-Wish sent Ariel and her family to New York where she met the whole baking family from the hit reality TV show "Cake Boss."

She even decorated her own cake.