Petra Monaco’s bath and body products have the potential to save somebody’s life. The multi-talented mom of four (and step-friend of one more) dedicates 100 percent of the sales from her handmade soaps to a little-known foundation that strives to cure the disorder that has challenged the life of her youngest son for several years.

Monaco’s son Lennon, now 7 years old, was diagnosed with a rare metabolic Urea Cycle Disorder (UCD) in 2007. His body simply does not create enough enzymes, primarily in his liver, to remove the correct amount of ammonia from his blood stream.

“I always knew something was wrong,” his mother says. “There was nonstop crying. He vomited a lot.”

Lennon also experienced extreme periods of either lethargy or hyperactivity—even in his infancy. He had been diagnosed with colic, dehydration and other better-known problems that little ones encounter.

“But, I thought ‘how can he be dehydrated? I’ve been filling him up with Pedialyte,’” says Monaco. However, the children’s oral electrolyte solution was flushing the ammonia buildup her son’s liver was allowing, which may have helped to prevent damage to Lennon, but also may have prevented earlier diagnosis—one that could be detected by the newborn screening test, often called a phenylketonuria (PKU) test, that is now available to infants.

A few years later, after Lennon would not wake from his nap during his pre-kindergarten class, he went to Martha Jefferson Hospital’s Emergency Room where he became responsive, but was soon delirious. That episode finally gave Monaco an answer she was waiting for, but when is a mom ever relieved by a fatal diagnosis?

There is no known cure for UCD, which affects one in every 30,000 newborns, according to the National Institutes of Health. The cost to life from the insufficiency of the urea cycle can begin with liver failure—as it has for Lennon, twice.

To date, Lennon has survived two liver transplant surgeries, both performed when he was 4 years old, in an attempt to restore his body’s urea cycle to total health. Now he is on the waiting list for a third liver transplant with the Children’s Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It is possible for Lennon to receive a new liver that will allow him to live free of UCD for as long as the organ can remain healthy and if the veins and arteries supporting it keep free of occlusion.

“Nobody asks you (when you’re pregnant) if you want your baby to be healthy or sick,” Monaco says. “And it doesn’t matter. It can be tiresome. There are days when things are emotionally draining and I don’t know how I can do it anymore.” She calls that “being human,” “but I do it because I have to, and I would rather live in a cardboard box than not have my family.”

She hopes proceeds from her soap sales will help to provide support for families like hers and money for research done by the National Urea Cycle Foundation. Lennon helps make soaps, but wants to “learn how to yarn” since his mother also makes crocheted items. His favorite soap to make is green and “smells like strawberry.”

The boy has suffered some brain damage since the onset of UCD and receives supplements via gastric feeding tube, “but you wouldn’t know anything is wrong with him,” his mother says. He loves to eat French fries with barbecue sauce and challenge his brother to serious games of Playstation’s 4-Wheeler. He also plays with his pets, Tank-Tank and Dakota.

Lennon’s biggest wish is to have his very own green skateboard. His mother’s are that a new liver will get Lennon past his complications from UCD, and that our community will learn more about this rare disorder so everyone can contribute to its cure.

Purchase handmade soaps created with a variety of familiar oils, goat’s milk and gorgeous scents at Monaco’s website at http://www.hippiesbath.com/, or visit her booth, Hippie’s Creations, at Scottsville Community Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. until Oct. 30.