Thank You to My Liver Donor
David Reynard
The Liver transplant surgery was a lifesaving procedure to replace my failing liver that was damaged from cancer, drinking and other contributing factors with a healthy donor liver. There are many people on the waiting list for donor livers. My liver came to me out of tragedy which sticks with me still months after my transplant. I had prepared my body as well as I could with the hope of receiving a liver in time. I readied my mind for the journey and the surgery. What I did not prepare myself for was the level of gratitude and sorrow that comes from being a recipient. The mental struggle of realizing someone passed for me to live leaves me in awe.
My medical journey started four years ago, shortly after the death of my father. This was the first time I almost died and started my journey that will continue the remainder of my days. I will save those details for another article. This article is to recognize the ultraistic gift that someone actively made with the decision to save others when their time came and made sure the promise was kept. The purest of gifts. I can’t put into words properly the gratitude and emotions that I feel for whoever this angel was that allowed me to continue with my life in a completely different way than before.
I am determined to use this renewed chance of life to make them proud. My life started to change two years ago with my initial diagnosis of stage 4 liver cancer, cirrhosis, and liver failure. I was told that in my state that I would be lucky to live around 30 days. I had searched and been adamant for two years trying to get answers about why I was sick. Now, I had my answer and had 30 days left of my life. A wave of emotions and numbness fell over me even over the physical pain that I had been experiencing for months. I was going to die and there wasn’t really much hope for me. The doctors didn’t exactly say that, but the indication was that the chance was slims.
The next two years consisted of two bouts of stage 4 liver cancer, 8 months of cancer inducing chronic pain, seventy-pound weight loss, liver failure, blood clot, dying twice and almost dying another 17 times from complications before that fateful night in December.
December 24th, I received the call to get my things and make it to the airport. I was off to Arizona. This trip turned into a failure as the liver couldn’t be transplanted. I was back on a plane home on Christmas day instead of having the surgery. Friday the 27th came and I received the call for another liver. 9pm that night, I was informed that liver also couldn’t be transplanted. This time, I was in my apartment. Saturday the 28th came and at 1:36pm I received another call saying that there was a 3rd liver. I told them yes and to advise when they had it tested so I could get with insurance on getting the flight there. 9:14pm the call came telling me to get my bags, they were working on the flight and would tell me where to go. December 29th at 6am, I was having the transplant. Your liver had come back from the test as being in great shape and healthy.
I awoke to the strangest thing on the afternoon of the 29th. I had pain in my lower back from the operating table and pain where the two drainage tubes were. I didn’t have pain anywhere else, not my abdominals, the incision, my ribs, or my side. I didn’t have the degree of swelling like many transplant patients have. I had to have a minor procedure to have a stint put into a bile duct that had concaved post-surgery. But even with that surgery, I was healing and progressing faster than other patients had. I was able to come off the pain medication after four days and climb a flight of stairs. I was discharged from the hospital by day ten and walked 2.5 miles on day twelve. Day 15, we did a 6 mile mountain trail.
At the follow-up doctor’s appointment on day 16, I was informed that I shouldn’t be there. I was slightly confused. The doctor proceeded to tell me that I should have never been able to go back to work the previous January or do any of the things that I had been doing for the year. I should have been placed on permanent disability and died waiting to be put onto the waiting list. With the condition of my liver, I should have died around June of last year. This came to me in total shock. He proceeded that I shouldn’t be healing at the rate that I had and have been healing. They have no explanation.
I think of you often. An unknown entity, with no identity to me, but one that must have been dear to your family. I know nothing about you, age, gender, race or religion. I guess none of that is too important to who you really were. I would hope to one day meet your family and show them that I have not wasted your ultimate gift to me and find out who you were and how you impacted those around you. To thank your family for raising such a person that impacted my life and I assume others beyond what I can imagine you thought it would upon choosing to be a donor.
My life had been changing for two years since the diagnosis of the cancer the first time around. I was changing bad habits, changing perspectives, exercising, changing my diet in hopes to last long enough for a transplant and be healthy enough to receive it. But on December 29th, my life changed forever because of you and your selfless act. The impact of it resonates through every ounce of my being. Thanks to you, I am alive. As mentioned before, I should have died 9 months ago. I don’t know the purpose of why I was kept alive and then saved by your gift. A gift I will carry with me and cherish for the rest of my life. I can only pray that the life I lead for my remaining days makes you proud and justifies your sacrifice to allow me to opportunity to help others during my 2nd life.
My scars from the journey are symbols of a battle that has scarred many through the pain, suffering, and loss. Symbols showing there is a power greater than our own and has direction in our lives. In my case, symbols showing that I needed to make grand changes in the way I was living. I don’t have the answers to why you are gone, and I remain. It sounds strange to admit, but I feel the world lost a shining light that day. I hope that the other recipients and I carry your light and share it with others to lessen their struggles.