DONOR | Julie's Story

Julie Pryor

LIVING Liver DONOR NEEDED

Three years ago I was diagnosed with end stage liver disease. I went to the ER with lots of swelling and severe shortness of breath. I felt like I was drowning. It turned out that my liver was unable to manage my fluids and my lungs were filled to the brim. Three months later I was told I was not going to make it. The doctors told me there was absolutely no hope. I was offered hospice. My wonderful sisters and friends refused to believe it and they brought me to Johns Hopkins. My four dogs in Atlanta, my “babies “ had already found loving homes but every day their loss breaks my heart. My work as a nurse practitioner, which I loved, was lost as well.

The effects of liver disease are more profound than I ever knew. Muscle wasting is one of many. I now understand why it has taken so long to recover from a hip surgery done a year ago. Most people would be running marathons by now but I am still limping and using a cane. I’m getting there, it’s just taking forever! The fluid imbalance happened again and put me back in the hospital for almost a week. Lots of needles and tubing, oxygen, CT scans, etc. I am happily breathing again and never take a deep breath for granted.

The best news ever is that living donors can donate just a portion of their liver and the remainder will regenerate starting almost immediately. In 6-8 weeks, you’re good as new, with no long-term restrictions on your activity or diet. It’s like magic. My liver is completely removed and your donated portion grows to replace it. Between my health insurance and grant money, there is virtually no cost to you except your generosity, benevolence and altruism.
For me, I don’t have to get deathly ill awaiting a deceased donor. I get to live! I get to fulfill my promise to love and care for Macy (pictured), the sweetest little dog whom I adopted almost a year ago. She has brought such joy into my life!
If you want to look me up on Facebook, my FB name is Julie King Pryor.
Whatever happens, thank you for reading this! It means everything to me.

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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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