DONOR | Erin's Story

Erin LeRoy

Jo Anne Mack Needs A LIVING Liver DONOR

My name is Erin LeRoy and I am the oldest of three siblings. Our mom, Jo Anne Mack, is battling liver disease. This is our story:

My husband and I love getting our families together to kick back, eat food, play games and make memories. One person everyone looks forward to seeing is my mom, JoJo. Simply being in her presence is enough to put a smile on your face. Any day spent with my mom is filled with love, laughter, and moments you'll never forget.

My mom has always been deeply involved in our lives. Even while working as an occupational therapist, she graciously took on extra roles like room-mom, Girl Scout leader, carpool driver, and homework helper. She clapped at every dance rehearsal, cheered from the bleachers at every little league game, and stood at the finish line for every cross-country meet. Despite having liver disease, she's been a devoted mom, wife, friend, leader and so much more for as long as I can remember.

My mom is the most resilient person I know. She has never complained about her condition nor has she allowed it to dull her sparkle. As we got older, we nicknamed my mom "the worker" because of everything she does for us. She'll take on tasks of any size just to make things easier on us. When help is needed, she's the first to volunteer. My mom would gladly give up her world without asking for anything in return, as long as it made us all happy.

When her condition worsened, her social and active lifestyle became increasingly difficult to navigate. Things she used to effortlessly began exhausting her completely. Now, we often respond to her "can-do" attitude with "please-don'ts". Not being able to enjoy the things she loves is very discouraging for her. Though she still wears a smile every day, it's heartbreaking to see my mom burdened by this disease.

One of the most important lessons my mom taught me was to always speak up when it matters. So, today I raise my voice and ask that you please share her story with friends, family and others you speak with regularly. Our mom needs a liver transplant and we are looking for a living donor. So far, no one in our immediate family is eligible, but we still believe the perfect match is out there somewhere.

Many people don't know that a liver can regrow its own missing portions. In fact, healthy livers can completely regenerate in a matter of weeks. For us, getting a living donor means getting to keep our mom for decades longer. If you are interested in being a donor or want to learn more about the process, please call the Transplant Center at Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) at 866-925-3897

We appreciate your support more than you know.

START YOUR JOURNEY

Become Jo Anne Mack's Donor

If you are considering being a living donor please use links below to contact Jo Anne Mack'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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