Another Wonderful Liver Transplant Story

I just read this story of one liver saving two people. Such a wonderful story. Hope you read and enjoy it too.

http://health.yahoo.com/news/173162

Signed..... Mrs. Montana Conservative

Organ Donation: Give the Gift of Life

In September 2006 my father's liver function deteriorated as a result of an advanced stage of primary biliary cirrhosis. His internal medicine physician and a nephrologist at Billings Clinic made arrangements with the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha to evaluate him and to formulate a plan of action. The hospital flew him to Omaha late on a Tuesday night in October and by the end of the week several of us in the family made our way to Omaha. The diagnosis did not change but the prognosis did. He needed a liver and soon. After undergoing a myriad of tests to ascertain his overall health and his viability as an organ recipient, Dad was placed on the waiting list. As good as that news is to a waiting patient and family, there are some grim realities associated with the process. Nearly 20,000 people wait on the list and some 1700 die while waiting for a donated organ. By the grace of God our call came a mere 9 days later. His meld score was so high (a bad thing) that his transplant became imminent. On November 6, 2006 a family we've never met and a donor we could never thank gave the greatest gift imaginable. While one family in Omaha rejoiced another family in some other part of the country wept at what can only be described by me as a heroic loss.

I never gave the subject the consideration it deserves and that made me a fool. Brushing by the donation registration at the driver's license office proved just how selfish I was. Until it happens to you as the old saying goes. I never thought it would happen to me or within my immediate family. I was dead wrong. What state would we be in if everyone viewed organ donation with the same deadpan stare that I did? Medical procedures for transplants and pharmaceutical breakthroughs in the field of anti-rejection medication make the operations for organ transplants highly successful. Dad is recovering now and seems well on the way to regaining a normal life, free to enjoy his family and new grandson. I can never thank the donor and their family enough. It is such an easy decision and it is so amazing to watch life triumph over death. Speaking for me, there is no greater gift and I encourage everyone to become an organ donor. Talk about it with your family and decide for yourselves. Watch the gift of a loved one live on in a recipient that desperately needs a transplant. It is quite something to see the triumph after tragedy.