Transplant Links and Information

We finally got the doctor's office to make the proper requests to our insurance so we can get approval to move forward with the transplant evaluation process. We have an assigned Case Manager at the insurance company and have set up our first appointment with the medical center to talk about liver transplant evaluation and options.

Rather than rely only on the option of being high enough on the transplant list to be matched with a deceased donor, we have elected to use a facility that also performs transplants from living donors. For those that are not familiar with the idea of a living liver donor, here’s a short summary:

During living-donor liver transplantation, part of the liver is removed from a healthy adult (the donor) and transplanted into the patient (the recipient) after the diseased liver has been removed. This procedure is possible because of the liver’s remarkable capacity to regenerate – the liver segments in both the donor and recipient grow back to full size within a few weeks.

We will be using the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas for the next stage of this process. If you're interested in learning more about the facility, the transplant process, or even in becoming a living liver donor, feel free to check out these links...

• UT Southwestern Liver Transplant Center
• UT Southwestern Living Donor Liver Transplant
• UT Southwestern Living Donor Questionnaire

If you, or somebody you know, might be interested in saving a life by becoming a living donor, please complete the questionnaire or get in touch with Becky or myself.

Although I believe more tests will be needed, I think the initial criteria for a living donor is a blood type match (which I'm not sure yet if needs to be exact or just compatible with Becky's O+), and a similar liver size. We expect to learn more as we go through the initial evaluation phase and will pass on more information as we learn more.