Kieran Cooper, a 25-year-old from Northwich, Cheshire, turned a 'luminous' shade of yellow in January 2026 after his liver failed, likening his appearance to Bart Simpson. He was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham under blue lights and spent five weeks in hospital before receiving a second liver transplant on February 28.
While awaiting the surgery, Cooper developed jaundice due to a build-up of bilirubin. He said: 'It was a shock [turning yellow], I looked like one of the Simpsons. It made me self-conscious [walking down the street], it was quite uncomfortable.'
Ongoing fear of public
Even after the transplant restored his normal skin colour, Cooper admits he is still 'frightened' to go outside because strangers stare at him. 'I feel a lot better than I did, but I'm still scared to go out,' he said. His recovery has been 'painful' and he had to relearn how to walk.
Cooper's mother, 54-year-old Kerry Cooper, recalled the ordeal: 'He wasn't feeling well [one day] and the next morning I thought, "oh my world he is yellow". We got blue-lighted to Birmingham and he was there for five weeks. He had been yellow for a few months but it got worse while he was in Birmingham. He was yellow but he went luminous, we joked saying he looked like Bart Simpson.'
Medical history
Cooper was diagnosed with biliary atresia as a newborn, a rare condition affecting the gallbladder. He had his first operation at seven weeks old, but it failed, leading to a liver transplant in 2002 when he was 11 months old. He remained well until complications arose in 2014, and he was placed on a waiting list for a second transplant in 2023. His condition worsened in early 2026, prompting the emergency surgery.
Now on the road to recovery, Cooper does not work due to his health and visits the hospital every six weeks for lifelong medication. He said: 'I wanted to share my story and what I've been through. You don't want to go through the stuff I've been through, because I've been to hell and back.'
His mother added: 'He had to go into intensive care. It was pretty rough as a family, we didn't know whether he would survive it. It was awful. I absolutely feared for his life.'
