Tequesta 4-Year-Old Isla Peters Featured on National CBS Show After Life-Saving Liver Transplant from Her Father

A Tequesta family's remarkable journey through a life-threatening diagnosis, a father's selfless donation, and a little girl's recovery is now being shared with the country on national television.

Four-year-old Isla Peters of Tequesta has been nominated as one of eight families featured on The Greatest @Home Videos: Cedy Awards, a CBS show hosted by Cedric the Entertainer. The episode aired Friday, September 18 at 8 p.m. on CBS12.

The day everything changed

The day before Isla's third birthday, her health took a dramatic and terrifying turn. Within hours she was vomiting blood. Extensive testing revealed that Isla was born with two copies of the PKHD-1 gene — a rare genetic condition that had caused severe cirrhosis of the liver. Her condition progressed faster than doctors anticipated, and she was placed on the living donor transplant list.

Her father stepped up

Isla's father, Erik Peters, went through all of the medical evaluations to see if he could be her donor. He passed every test.

“All of the veins and arteries were going to fit well enough. And the twenty percent was going to fit her perfectly, so it just worked out great,” Erik said.

Erik donated twenty percent of his liver to his daughter and says he now feels better than before the surgery.

“It feels pretty amazing because I feel like my wife gave her body to our first born and I am really happy that I could take her the rest of the way,” he said.

The surgical team was moved by how perfectly the match came together. “The surgeon came out and said it moved him how well the match was. Like the match was absolutely perfect down to the antibodies,” said Isla's mother, Ashley.

A community that showed up

Throughout the ordeal, the Peters family received extraordinary support from the community. The Chasin' A Dream Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, First Presbyterian Preschool of Tequesta, and First Presbyterian Church of Tequesta were all part of the network that surrounded them.

Ashley has been sharing the family's story online through the Children's Organ Transplant Association platform at cota.org/cotaforislacapri, which has helped offset transplant-related care costs.

“It’s a God story. It’s a story that will hopefully bring a lot of people to God or faith or whatever they believe in because it was truly a miracle,” Ashley said.

Isla is now doing well — staying busy with her little sister Kaia and keeping up with all of the activities a healthy four-year-old can.