
Renee and Jill know each other from many years of their kids plays on the same sports teams. After Renee was added to the liver transplant waiting list in December 2021, Jill stepped up and registered to be her living donor.
Our patient stories profile those who have had liver transplants at UPMC. Although everyone’s care experience is unique, we hope that sharing these stories will help prospective patients and their families better understand these procedures and their potential impact on patients’ lives.
Note: These patients' treatment and results may not be representative of all similar cases.
After Eric was diagnosed with primary sclerosis cholangitis (PSC) – a chronic and progressive liver disease – one of his close friends, Isaiah, registered to be his living donor without hesitation. "When I first heard the news, I texted Eric and told him, ‘If you want a piece of my liver, you got it.'"
In 2020, Rick was rushed to the hospital for an eye related injury. During his visit, he was given the surprising news that he had cirrhosis of the liver. When he was told he would need a liver transplant, his sister, Ida, stepped in to be his living donor. Learn more about Rick and Ida's experience at UPMC in Central Pa.
Family can be one of the most important components in life. In this case, sometimes family isn’t always your only option when it comes to help. By taking part in a living-donor liver transplant exchange, a total of four individuals were able to be a part of one life-changing moment that they will all cherish for the rest of their lives.
Marathon runner Donald King was sipping coffee in his car before his morning training run when he heard a radio commercial about organ donation and becoming a living donor. The father of three whose premature son spent 102 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), instantly knew what he had to do. “I’ve seen how fragile life is. I felt called,” he says.
Joe St. Clair didn’t know he had liver disease until his wife found him unconscious in bed and rushed to the hospital. He found out he would need a liver transplant if he wanted to survive. Four people offered to donate and were turned away. But then his cousin, Barbara, offered to donate from all the way in Virginia.
For three years, George MacDonald fought cirrhosis, an illness in which healthy liver tissue is replaced with scar tissue, leading to fatigue, weight loss, easy bruising, and discoloration in the skin and eyes. His daughter, Diana, saw he was getting sicker. As a nurse working at UPMC Passavant, she had some sense of what he was going through, and she wanted to help. But she wasn’t sure how."
When Michael Pitterich learned that he needed a liver transplant, he very quickly started looking for a live donor. A friend volunteered to get tested and found she was a perfect match. Since his transplant, Michael is doing well and will always remember the gift of life his donor gave him.
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