Despite their intentions, no eligible candidate has yet been found.
Yet he and his wife, Martha Casey, remain optimistic a match will be made.
First signs
“In 2019, we were hiking 10 to 12 miles, taking wonderful trips, going on walks through Grosse Pointe,” Martha Casey said. “In March 2020, he was working. … He got COVID the first of April.”
Kenneth Casey, a neurosurgeon at Beaumont Hospital, Grosse Pointe, had a lengthy battle with the coronavirus, his wife said.
“He did not need hospitalization, but he had fevers for four months,” she noted. “He’d have good days and we’d think he was done, then he’d get a fever. He’d be miserable, extremely lethargic. This lasted until the end of July.”
When he started to feel better, he became active again. In addition to regular walks in the Pointes, he was back to work, mainly via tele-health, but also performing the occasional surgery. Things got frustrating when procedures — he performs specialty surgery involving cranial nerves — were canceled due to COVID and related limitations.
A visit to his family doctor revealed his liver enzymes were a little off. He was referred to a hepatologist at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, who ordered more blood work and diagnosed him with hepatitis C.
“After that, he got more lethargic again, but he would sometimes have energy,” Martha Casey said. “In July, we went to Pittsburgh.”
Kenneth Casey did his residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where Dr. Thomas E. Starzi became the first physician to perform a liver transplant. The hospital’s liver transplant program is one of the oldest and largest in the United States and doesn’t shy away from complex cases. When it comes to living-donor liver transplants, it is one of the top and most experienced programs in the country.
“We went there because he was 70 and a number of places we looked into weren’t interested in seeing him,” Martha Casey said.
During their July meeting, the Caseys were told he wasn’t yet a candidate for transplant, though he had enough of an issue that it couldn’t be treated with medication.
Two consecutive hospitalizations last fall prompted a return trip to UPMC.
Doctors “put him through a gamut of tests to see if he was a candidate for a liver transplant,” she added. “The day before Christmas, he was put on the liver transplant list.”
The Caseys spent Christmas and rang in the new year at UPMC. Once he was stabilized, he was discharged and they spent a week or so in The Family House, a self-described “home away from home” for patients and their families who are in Pittsburgh seeking medical treatment. Thursday, Jan. 10, they began the drive back to Grosse Pointe Park.
Prior to being diagnosed with hepatitis C, Kenneth Casey was active in several organizations, including the Grosse Pointe Boat Club and Grosse Pointe Men’s Club. He and his wife also have served as Special Olympics coaches for years.
Their daughter, Laura, who is developmentally disabled, kicked off her Special Olympics career in 1996, in Pennsylvania.
“My husband and I helped with the (Grosse Pointe/Harper Woods) ski team up until the time there wasn’t one,” Martha Casey said. “He also coached golf, he coached swimming. We’ve been super involved over the years with Special Olympics.”
Full interview and story is located on Grosse Pointe News by Jody McVeigh 1/26/22: https://www.grossepointenews.com/articles/park-man-hopes-to-find-living-donor-match/
Family and friends of Kenneth Casey are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to FUND DONOR’S COSTS AND EXPENSES NOT COVERED BY KEN’S INSURANCE COMPANY.
Contributors can be sure donations will be used to pay or reimburse medical and related expenses. To make a tax-deductible donation to this fundraising campaign, click on the Give button.
For more information, please contact Help Hope Live at 800.642.8399.
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