Was someone looking for me? I am a transplant coordinator, and although I work with kidneys and pancreases, I do know a little bit about livers, too. So let me try make sense out of what can be a very confusing topic. There are invariably misconceptions that creep in whenever organ donation or transplants are discussed, even among medical professionals, so most of the the info mentioned in this thread was surprisingly accurate..only an occasional tweak is needed:
There are two types of liver transplants: living donor and deceased donor transplants. Living donors, obviously, can only donate a portion of their liver, because if left liverless, they would die. Whole livers for transplant come from the traditional deceased organ donor...someone who was brain dead and whose next of kin consented to donate their organs. A living donor must undergo a great deal of testing...it's not something that is done casually or without a great deal of testing and coordination. Someone whose liver has completely shut down, such as the woman this thread is about, will have to be transplanted within the next few days or she will die. (Abba...that different than the kids in your mom's office...those kids have chronic liver disease, and although they also need transplants, the clock is not ticking as fast for them. ) Livers need to be blood group and size compatible... the actual DNA markers don't matter all that much. It is quite possible that with a little bit of luck, a suitable deceased donor organ will be found for this woman in time. Since she is so critically ill, she is most likely a Status One...which means that she will have priority over others who are less urgently in need.
I think that the point the website was trying to make, but shied away from lest they seem morbid, was that they are hoping that if anyone happens to know someone who winds up brain dead in the next few days, they will designate this woman as a recipient. Even if that should happen, it still wouldn't necessarily guarantee a transplant since the donor would still have to be the right blood group and size. And frankly, if she is a Status One, she is being screened against all potential donors anyway... But I can understand how helpless and desperate her family and friends must feel...and the website is at least something...
As is no secret to anyone who reads the OT board, I tend to be somewhat cynical about and stay away from prayer threads. But if you're inclined to pray for someone, this woman seems to be as good of a candidate as anyone. The incredible powerlessness of her situation is pretty staggering.
And as an aside, not in the course of work, but rather in my personal life, I once knew a young woman who was hit with an unusual virus and developed fulminant liver failure and was given only days to live. She was very lucky, and from the time she was activated on the transplant waiting list until the time a suitable liver donor was found was only 17 hours. (She was listed as a Status One, too.) She and her liver are doing just fine almost a decade later.
Sueleen Gay: "Here you go, Bitch, now go make some fukcing lemonade." 10/28/10
Updated On: 7/24/05 at 12:22 AM
