DONOR | Clare's Story

Clare King

Julie Pryor Needs A LIVING Liver DONOR

Many of you know Julie, my younger sister, is living with me, and for those who know her, you know she is the most wonderful person in the world: kind, generous, thoughtful, and loving. But you may not know that she is living with End Stage Liver Disease. Without a new liver, she will die. In the past, patients needing a new liver would wait for a deceased donor. Indeed, there are 14,000 people on the wait list with Julie. One in five will die waiting. I can’t bear to think this could happen to Julie.

I have watched my sister struggle with this disease, at one point close to death, unable to breathe, when her lungs filled with fluid. A few years ago, her doctors in Atlanta told her to “go to the beach with friends to say goodbye.” We felt hopeless. But that was before we came to the Transplant Team at Johns Hopkins Hospital. We have come to know an inspiring group of surgeons, nurses and researchers who are doing pioneering work in live donor liver transplants. They are encouraging us to find a person who might be willing to donate (a small part of) their liver. In doing so, they would save Julie’s life.
Could you be that person?
For your consideration:
* Medical expenses, evaluation, and follow up care would be covered by Julie’s insurance. Travel and other costs are often covered by grant money.
* Surgery is approximately 3 hours, hospital stay a few days after.
* The donor’s liver begins to regenerate immediately and is fully recovered in 6-8 weeks. The liver is unique in it’s ability to regenerate. There would be no long-term health consequences.
* Julie’s new liver will also regenerate, and become completely normal. She can look forward to a full, rich life.

We know we are asking a lot. There is courage in coming forward. But, the reward could be great. This is truly a gift of life. Most donors say they would donate again, in a heartbeat, and that it is one of the best experiences of their life.
If you would like to learn more, please call 410-614-2989. Any conversation would be confidential.
Below is an ad you may have seen on television, from the University of Pittsburgh. It’s message is dark, but powerful:

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/dlH3/upmc-living-donor-liver-transplants

START YOUR JOURNEY

Become Julie Pryor's Donor

If you are considering being a living donor please use links below to contact Julie Pryor's Transplant Center. Begin by completing the donor questionnaire

Fill Out DONOR Questionnaire
(INQUIRES ARE 100% CONFIDENTIAL)

Becoming a Liver DONOR Find a Transplant Center near you

Johns Hopkins Hospital

1800 Orleans St, Baltimore, MD, 21287

(410) 614-2989 Email Transplant Center

Did you know?

Medical expenses for living organ donors are 100% covered, and inquires from potential donors are 100% confidential! Contact the Transplant Center to learn more about living donation.

More Donor FAQs

Share the Importance of Living Donation

Liver transplantation has been a successful treatment and standard of care for end-stage liver disease since the early 1980s.

Technical advancements in liver surgery, as well as the liver's tremendous ability to regenerate, have made living donor liver transplantation a life-saving reality.

There are currently 120,000 people waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant in the U.S. Of these, 15,000 await liver transplants.

Although more than 6,000 liver transplants were performed last year, over 1,700 patients died while waiting on the list.

Deceased donor livers are allocated to patients based on how sick they are, determined by their MELD score, where sicker patients receive priority.

Living donation offers patients the option of transplant before they get very sick--regardless of MELD score--significantly decreasing the time they wait for a liver.

Living donation not only saves the life of the recipient; it also frees up a liver for a patient on the waiting list who does not have that option.

The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) and Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease (PELD) are numerical, objective scales that allocate available livers to the sickest patients. Patients move up the list as their scores increase.

The first living donor liver transplant took place in 1988. Since then, living donors have continued giving the gift of life and making a difference.

When a recipient has a living donor, the wait time for transplant is shorter and the transplant can be scheduled in advanced when the recipient is in good health and when it is convenient for both the donor and the recipient.

Financial burdens shouldn’t prevent the gift of life. The National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) can offer financial support for living donor travel expenses.

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