I’m in need of a liver transplant, which will give me a second chance at life. I don’t have it all planned out yet, but I know I want to give back and pay it forward. Please donate to allow me to help others.
I’ve been through a lot in my life, but it hasn’t slowed me down. In 1980, at 15 years old, I was riding a motorcycle and had a terrible accident that left me in the hospital for 16 months. I had a broken neck and multiple compound fractures of my right leg. I later developed a bone infection, and had to fight to keep my leg. I persevered, and a couple years later, I graduated from high school and put myself through college.
I found out I had Hepatitis C in 1995. There was no treatment available until 1999. I went through a year-long trial to rid my body of the virus. It worked while I was on Interferon but unfortunately, 6 months after my treatment ended, the virus returned. I was most likely to have contracted the disease through blood transfusions after my motorcycle accident. My last blood transfusion was in 1982, but the results changed my life forever. Later, the leg that I fought so hard to keep from the original accident in 1980 had to be amputated above the knee in 2014, and my right shoulder had to be reconstructed shortly after. I went through new treatment that had been developed for Hep C and successfully eradicated the virus. Sadly, the damage was done by then but there wouldn’t be any additional damage. I later developed cirrhosis and HCC (Hepatocellular Carcinoma). I also had to have my right hip, the hip of the amputated leg, completely replaced in 2015. In 2016, I underwent a procedure to remove a tumor in my liver. About a month after the procedure, I had a series of strokes, which caused a brain bleed. Amazingly, I recovered without too much loss.
