DONOR | Cathleen's Story

Cathleen Cullen

James Cullen Needs A LIVING Liver DONOR

Silver Wedding Anniversary Year

This year JIM and I will be married 25 years
I was Initially attracted to Jim’s ability to express his spirituality and in time learned he was a jack of all trades and an excellent cook. Marrying “later in life” we didn’t have children but he took on the role of a helpful son in law, uncle and neighbor.
JIM took on cancer twice and a serious lower extremity injury, but as a cousin said, he’s like an oak tree with a good foundation and deep roots. However, a failing liver is something he can’t overcome without some person willing to check to see if they are a match.
Being so affected by fatigue has limited Jim’s once adventurous spirit and believe me we don’t eat as well with my cooking! I would love to have my travel companion, gardener and all around fixer back in good spirits and able to enjoy each day
Fortunately the abdominal fluid build up has been minimal in the last several weeks but at its height caused a hernia which makes certain movements painful and can’t be corrected until the transplant. A portal vein blood clot initially obstructed fluid flow but time and taking royal jelly daily resolved it. (When a priest giving him communion in the hospital heard Jim was a beekeeper he told an interesting story of a man with clots who benefited from royal jelly) This is all good but the goal line Is a life saving liver transplant.

The worry and anxiety of needing a transplant and not knowing if one will come in time is a daily mental drain. Physically he has little zest and any activity becomes a grind. A transplant for JIM would restore his get up and go.

We are fortunate that transplant surgery at Yale is very successful with great recoveries for both donors and recipients but that all starts with contacting the Center to find out more about the specifics of the program. Any questions a potential donor has can be answered by the transplant center staff.
I hope and pray that whoever may read this will help us spread the word ofJim’s need and they or someone this message is shared with will call to start a living donor evaluation

START YOUR JOURNEY

Become James Cullen's Donor

If you are considering being a living donor please use links below to contact James Cullen'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

Yale New Haven Transplantation Center

333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06520

(866) 925-3897 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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Cathleen's Patient

James

Liver DONOR NEEDED

We worked hard to get the life we have and now I want to enjoy it

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