10/28/2020
***PLEASE SHARE THIS POST***
Why Our Dad Needs a Living Liver Donor:
Our dad Warren was diagnosed with liver failure on New Year’s Eve 2019. It’s been months of tests, appointments and follow-ups to get to where we are now, which is on the transplant list. He needs a liver from a living or deceased donor. We are scared. There are not enough organs for everyone who needs them.
It’s been highly recommended by dad’s transplant team that he find a live liver donor rather than waiting for a deceased donor. This is something we are actively pursuing for many reasons. The two major reasons being:
- His current quality of life
- Knowing how much worse things will get if we wait for a deceased donor
Dad’s living donor can be a healthy person age 18-60 with blood type B +, B-, O + or O-. Asking family, friends and our community if you would be willing to donate a part of your liver is something I never imagined I would have to do. Reaching out to those closest to us is all we have right now, as my brother and I aren’t a compatible blood match and mom is over 60.
My dad’s mobility is really bad. He was due for a double knee replacement in May 2020, which couldn’t take place because of COVID and of course his liver condition – he is at too high risk of infection for any type of surgery until he has a transplant. Without a double knee replacement, he will continue to live in excruciating pain as he is unable to take even minimal pain relief to mitigate his suffering due to his condition. Dad has never even so much as mumbled a word of complaint, but his sounds of anguish are enough for us to know how much he is truly suffering. The other complications that are progressing as a result of the liver disease could get quite serious and waiting for those complications to arise is an unbearable thought for us.
Any healthy person can donate a piece of their liver and save Warren’s life. The liver is incredible and will grow back in 2-3 months! This surgery is more common than you might think—more than 900 living liver donor surgeries have been performed in Toronto alone.
Living donors don’t need to be family. They don’t even need to know the recipient, which is pretty cool. You, our extended network of family, friends and our community, can help to save Warren’s life by spreading the word. You’d be surprised at the number of applications that come forward from live donors who don’t know the recipient.
You can help by following and sharing this page.
Our goal is to equip everyone with as much information as possible for you to consider a live donation and to consider championing for a live liver donor for Warren.
To learn more about living liver donation, visit: https://www.uhn.ca/Transplant/Living_Donor_Program/Centre_for_Living_Organ_Donation
Detailed information is below.
If you or someone you know is interested in applying to be Warren’s donor, complete a health history form and submit it to UHN with a copy of your blood type. The application asks for Warren’s full name, which is Warren Wiwchar and his birth date, which is August 29, 1952. Here is a link to that form which includes submissions instructions: https://www.uhn.ca/Transplant/Living_Donor_Program/Documents/Living_Donor_Health_History_Form.pdf
UHN’s Centre for Living Donation is also available to answer any questions at all. They can be reached at 416 340 5400 or livingorgandonation@uhn.ca.
We are grateful to each and every one of you for sharing this message and for keeping my dad in your thoughts.
Love,
The Wiwchar family
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Living Liver Transplant
- A liver transplant is the treatment of choice for individuals experiencing liver failure.
- Living liver donation is shorter pathway to transplantation; it provides better long-term outcomes and quicker recovery than deceased donation.
- It allows for a scheduled surgery, giving the donor and recipient, as well as their families, time to prepare.
- Outcomes for living donor transplants are better than for deceased donor transplants – which is true whether you measure from the moment of listing, or from the moment of transplant. For example, the survival rate for recipients 5 years post-transplant is 80% for decease donor transplants and 90% for live donor transplants.
- There are currently 284 people waiting for a liver transplant in Ontario. 106 of them are blood type O (TGLN, January 7, 2020 https://www.giftoflife.on.ca/en/publicreporting.htm).
Becoming a Living Donor
- Anyone who is healthy, understands the risks and benefits, and wants to donate freely is eligible to be a living liver donor at UHN.
- Donating your liver means donating a portion of your liver to someone in need. Both your liver, as well as the portion you donated will regenerate to their full size in a number of weeks.
- Living donors go through a rigorous evaluation process to ensure they are healthy enough to donate. Most spend a week in hospital after surgery, and return to work and regular activities within six to eight weeks.
- The living donor survival rate at Toronto General Hospital is 100%.
- Living donors do not have to be blood relatives – they can be family, friends, coworkers, community members, or strangers.
Live Donor Liver Program - Toronto General Hospital
- Since 2001, UHN has performed over 900 living liver donor transplants with excellent outcomes for recipients and living donors.
- UHN’s Toronto General Hospital – home to the living liver donor program - is ranked one of the top ten hospitals in the world.
- UHN’s living liver donor program is unique in three ways:
1. We are willing to transplant patients at earlier stages of disease than other programs.
2. We are able to transplant patients who are considered “too sick” by other programs because of our experienced team. We also have clinical trials that provide access to novel treatments that may be unavailable elsewhere
3. We have more experience dealing with complicated anatomy than other programs. Individuals who have been turned down for a transplant or for living donation by other programs may be accepted at UHN.
Information for Willing Live Donors
- Due to COVID some donor tests can be done wherever the person lives, some will be done online and some will require the individual to come to Toronto General. Average length of testing is 2-3 months.
- Testing includes – bloodwork, XRay, MRI/CT scan, stress test (depending on age), consults with transplant coordinator, social work, surgeon etc.
- Donor will need to take time off work to recover – post surgery donor spends 1 week in hospital and then 6-8 weeks recovering at home. Recovery is very individual. Some people can resume computer work 2 weeks after surgery, however if job is more physically demanding may need full 8 weeks to recover.
- Post surgery – donor will take meds for 1 month after surgery. 1 is an injection that they need to give themselves daily. We see the donor at 1mos, 3mos and 6mos post donation. After that they follow up with their family doctor on a yearly basis
- UHN offers a mentorship program for anyone thinking of being a donor or would like to connect with someone who has donated
- UHN also offers monthly webinars on live liver donation to learn more: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/information-for-potential-living-liver-donors-tickets-104537544610
- Donor financial assistance:
o Donor testing, surgery and post surgery care in hospital will be covered for the donor by my dads OHIP card.
o There is financial assistance available to donors to cover out of pocket expenses (meals, mileage, accommodations, lost wages) that they may incur as a result of donation.
o Donors may also be eligible to apply for financial assistance through the PRELOD program. This is a financial reimbursement program administered through Trillium Gift of Life. The program helps cover out of pocket costs that donors may incur as a result of their donation. Coverage may be provided for transportation, accommodations, meals, public transit, parking.
