Please Give the Lift of Life!

My older brother Larry is the proud owner of a donated liver as of yesterday evening, and what an amazing gift to receive!  At the same time, it's kind of hard to be really, really happy for Larry; knowing another family lost a loved one in order for there to be a liver available for transplant to Larry.  He is at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas, where he has been on and off for months in various stages of illness, waiting. The available organs are assigned to the recipients based on how ill the recipient is, and in a kind of perverse manner, the recipient has to get "good and sick" before they move up on the transplant list... so it becomes a strange dance of watch and wait & numbers... liver enzymes, creatinine clearances, blood cell counts, just to name a few levels that are observed closely... the recipient can't get too sick, or they move down on the list or are removed entirely... and if they are too well, back down the list, again... you get the picture, right?  It's just a very complicated, convoluted procedure.  

I am so sorry for the donor family's loss and so grateful at the same time, that they were generous and compassionate enough not to bury a perfectly good liver, knowing it could afford someone else another chance at life!

This goofy drawing is a little something I put together for Larry, back in July, when he was very, very ill and understandably depressed.  I get to draw a nurse in a somewhat disparaging manner, since I belong to the "club"... not necessarily nurses with "cankles", but an older nurse for sure!

Larry was infected with Hepatitis C after undergoing an out-patient surgical procedure in an OR in Texas, where an anesthesia tech was stealing narcotics from the anesthesia carts in the OR, shooting up, and then using the same needle to draw up saline to put volume back into the vials of narcotics, so no one would suspect any meds were missing.  55 people altogether were infected, Larry being one of them.

So, please, let your loved ones know your wishes about organ donation... it is my fervent hope that more people will realize we won't be needing those organs once we "go", and someone out there may be desperate for a heart, a liver, a kidney, corneas, lungs, even skin for burn victims... it is such a wonderful way to do something generous & altruistic, and make the final act of our lives an incredibly wonderful thing.  

Comments

[Seth]

Sending out my thoughts and prayers for your brother. I imagine that the donor family is at least comforted by the fact that their family member was able to pass on the gift of life. Glad you highlighted the issue of organ donation -- so important that people are aware of the need and voice outloud their willingness to donate!

[Kristin]

Thanks for passing my phone number along to your sister in law. I had a lovely conversation with her and I hope I answered some of her questions on being a caregiver. Continued prayers for Larry and for your family.

Kristin

[Diane]

Dear Kathy, My best wishes to you, your family and Larry as well as the donor and family. What a evil thing to happen to him and the other 55. Hope things settle down to a dull roar for you soon. Blessings

[Jane]

Oh, I'm sending many prayers and good thoughts to Larry and to both your family and the donor's family.
-J

[kim mailhot]

Sending prayers and lots of love, Kathy ! And thank you for the reminder.
Big love,
Kim

[Kristin]

Oh, I'm so very very happy for you and your family! My husband had a liver transplant Dec 23rd, 2005. We moved to Jacksonville to be close to the Mayo Clinic, where he had his liver transplant, and now we spend our time helping others go through the process of a heart, lung or liver transplant. There are so many people who are having to have liver transplants due to the Hep. C virus, how awful that your brother got it the way he did. I've seen a lot of post transplant Hep C patients that are living wonderful lives.

If you or your family would like to talk to someone who isn't a nurse, who has been through the process and can understand what's going on - please give me a call or shoot off an email. The first few weeks post transplant are tiring, exciting, frustrating, nerve wracking, sleepless and sometimes so stressful and that's just from the caregivers point of view. I'll be glad to listen.

Kristin Corlett
(904) 314-3436
Kirby3131(at)gmail(dot)com