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Globe and Mail
6 days ago
- Health
- Globe and Mail
This extraordinary gift from a living organ donor has changed my life
First Person is a daily personal piece submitted by readers. Have a story to tell? See our guidelines at On May 7, 2024, I found the One. Or rather, the One found me. I'm not talking about a soulmate to ride off into the sunset with, I'm talking about an organ donor. That was the day I was told that a match had been found, and I was going to receive my life-saving liver transplant. For more than 12 years I had been living with a rare liver disease and for the past 11 months had been urgently searching for a living donor – some remarkable person willing to give me part of their liver so that I could survive. The need for organs vastly exceeds the supply. Despite being on the transplant waitlist, my blood type and the nature of my disease meant that I was going to die on that list. My only hope was to find a match among the living. I wrote about my desperate situation in The Globe and Mail and I explained that there were no matches within my family or friends, so I had to go public. The vulnerability of asking strangers for an organ felt unbearable – but it was a choice between life or death. My liver is turning to stone. I need a living donor, and soon We launched my campaign in November, 2023, on social media hoping it would be widely shared, and it was. My donor, Trisha, who lives in the United States, saw my appeal after it was shared by someone she went to high school with 20 years ago. She reached out to say that she couldn't stop thinking about my story, and in mid-March told me she had applied to be my donor. To say I was skeptical is +an understatement. My first thought was: I need a donor here, in Canada. But she was my first real hope and I didn't want to ask further questions. Here was this person with the same blood type and a willing spirit. We messaged a bit, and she told me she was coming to Toronto to undergo the next phase of testing. I was hesitant when she asked if I wanted to meet her when she was here. What if the testing ruled her out? What if she ultimately changed her mind? I didn't want to get attached. By April, my health had been rapidly declining for months and I was experiencing horrifying physical symptoms that would be the envy of nightmares, like spontaneous nosebleeds, jaundice and sever brain fog. I spent an entire week in the hospital's transplant unit trying to get stabilized – the same week she was also there getting the final tests. She asked if I wanted updates, and I did – I desperately did – but I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I was several floors up from her. I couldn't put that kind of pressure on her shoulders. If the doctors ruled her out as my donor, I didn't want her feeling like she had failed me when I was at a critical juncture. On her last night in Toronto, she told me all the tests went well, and it looked very promising that we would get the green light for transplant. We just had to wait for the transplant team to meet and discuss my case the following week. She again asked if I wanted to meet early the following day before her flight home. At that moment I realized even if she wasn't the One, I had to meet her because she had come farther for me than anyone else. I told her things had gotten worse and I was in the hospital. When she came to my room the next morning, I was so nervous as I sat on the edge of the bed waiting. I peeked outside my room and saw her coming around the corner. Without hesitation, I rushed up and threw my arms around her. I held her so tightly, afraid that if I let go, she might evaporate into mist, but she didn't. She was real. Flesh and blood and liver. In mid-June of last year, Trisha performed the miracle I needed: She brought me back to life. A life that is filled with gratitude, purpose and a perfect organ. Just past the one-year mark, it will never be lost on me how fortunate I am to have received this extraordinary gift. I asked her why she did this for a stranger, and she said, 'because someone needed to do it' and so she courageously did. This new liver is my most treasured possession and has let me resume teaching and researching in the art history department at the University of Toronto, spending time with the people I love, and advocating for organ donation awareness and education, especially living donation. During the waiting process, I began to refer to my future donor as my 'living donor angel.' Trisha later told me that while she now lives in the northwest, she was born and raised in Los Angeles. My living donor angel was literally from the City of Angels. I am in awe of the capacity of human kindness, and the synchronicities of the universe. Stephanie Azzarello lives in Toronto.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Former MLB pitcher finds liver donor in high-school classmate he hadn't seen in 20 years
A man's Facebook plea for a liver donor attracted the attention of a high-school acquaintance he hadn't spoken to in 20 years. In April 2024, after experiencing appetite loss and losing 15 pounds in a month, Steven Register, 42, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, according to news agency SWNS. Doctors told the former MLB pitcher — who played for the Colorado Rockies in 2008 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009 — that a liver transplant was likely his best chance of survival. Man With Stage 4 Cancer Raises $150K For Experimental Treatment "When we first met with the doctors, they gave me a year to a year-and-a-half to live," Register said, adding that he and his wife, Beth, immediately started researching options. The couple traveled from Auburn, Alabama, to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where Register underwent surgery for a temporary ostomy bag and began chemotherapy, per the SWNS report. Read On The Fox News App Plans for the liver resection were canceled when doctors discovered the tumors were too large, which led the couple to consider a transplant. Register's wife created a Facebook group to search for a living liver donor, hoping someone would come forward in time. Kristin Johnston, a 40-year-old preschool teacher from Roswell, Georgia, saw the post and recognized Register as a former high-school classmate. The two had met in 1999 at Shaw High School in Columbus, Georgia, but hadn't spoken in over two decades. Alcohol-related Liver Transplants On The Rise Among Young Adults, Doctor Says "It was just so far out of left field," said Register, who couldn't believe it when Johnston volunteered to donate part of her liver. He added to SWNS, "I haven't seen or talked to her in over 20 years, and for her to reach out like that, it was just meant to be." Johnston said she started by doing a quick online search for live liver donation and discovered that blood type compatibility was the first step. "I just sent him a message," she said. "I said, 'Hey, what's your blood type?' and he said, 'I'm B positive.'" She responded, "Wait, that's mine, too," and offered, "I'll happily donate a lobe if I'm a match." Hiv-positive Transplants Now Permitted For Livers And Kidneys Johnston was later cleared as a match and received the confirmation on a meaningful day. "I got the news on Good Friday, of all days, that I was officially cleared as his liver donor," she said. The surgery, which is expected to take 12 to 14 hours, will involve removing 70% of Johnston's liver and transplanting it into Register, according to SWNS. Both her remaining liver and the donated portion will regenerate over time, giving both a second chance at health. "For her, she is ultimately giving him the gift of life — for him, a really fresh start in this journey," said Beth Register. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter Steven Register said he hoped that "once I get my liver with all the tumor and cancer out, I'll be cancer-free from there." The Register family — including children McKenzie (16), Blakely (14) and Brooks (8) — launched a fundraiser on SupportNow to help with travel, food and medical expenses. For more Health articles, visit Johnston and her husband Cody, 38, a real estate developer, have three kids of their own — Sawyer (9), Teddy (7) and Dahlia (4). Beth Register said she hopes their family's story raises awareness about the impact of living organ donation. "A lot of people don't realize that live donations, whether it be for livers or kidneys, are even an option," she said. She added that Johnston had been selfless from the start. The families believe fate had a hand in reconnecting them, per SWNS. "We just pray that God is opening all the right doors and that Kristin is the perfect donor for him," Beth Register said. "We just appreciate her being willing to put her life on pause to hopefully lengthen his life by many, many, many years."Original article source: Former MLB pitcher finds liver donor in high-school classmate he hadn't seen in 20 years
Fox News
07-06-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Former MLB pitcher finds liver donor in high-school classmate he hadn't seen in 20 years
A man's Facebook plea for a liver donor attracted the attention of a high-school acquaintance he hadn't spoken to in 20 years. In April 2024, after experiencing appetite loss and losing 15 pounds in a month, Steven Register, 42, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, according to SWNS. Doctors told the former MLB pitcher — who played for the Colorado Rockies in 2008 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009 — that a liver transplant was likely his best chance of survival. "When we first met with the doctors, they gave me a year to a year-and-a-half to live," Register said, adding that he and his wife, Beth, immediately started researching options. The couple traveled from Auburn, Alabama, to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where Register underwent surgery for a temporary ostomy bag and began chemotherapy, per the SWNS report. Plans for the liver resection were canceled when doctors discovered the tumors were too large, which led the couple to consider a transplant. Register's wife created a Facebook group to search for a living liver donor, hoping someone would come forward in time. Kristin Johnston, a 40-year-old preschool teacher from Roswell, Georgia, saw the post and recognized Register as a former high-school classmate. The two had met in 1999 at Shaw High School in Columbus, Georgia, but hadn't spoken in over two decades, SWNS reported. "It was just so far out of left field," said Register, who couldn't believe it when Johnston volunteered to donate part of her liver. He added, "I haven't seen or talked to her in over 20 years, and for her to reach out like that, it was just meant to be." Johnston said she started by doing a quick online search for live liver donation and discovered that blood type compatibility was the first step. "I just sent him a message," she said. "I said 'hey, what's your blood type?' and he said, 'I'm B positive.'" She responded, "Wait, that's mine too," and offered, "I'll happily donate a lobe if I'm a match." Johnston was later cleared as a match and received the confirmation on a meaningful day. "I got the news on Good Friday, of all days, that I was officially cleared as his liver donor," she said. The surgery, which is expected to take 12 to 14 hours, will involve removing 70% of Johnston's liver and transplanting it into Register, according to SWNS. Both her remaining liver and the donated portion will regenerate over time, giving both a second chance at health. "I got the news on Good Friday, of all days." "For her, she is ultimately giving him the gift of life — for him, a really fresh start in this journey," said Beth Register. Steven Register added, "Hopefully, once I get my liver with all the tumor and cancer out, I'll be cancer-free from there." The Register family — including children McKenzie (16), Blakely (14) and Brooks (8) — launched a fundraiser on SupportNow to help with travel, food and medical expenses. Johnston and her husband Cody, 38, a real estate developer, have three kids of their own — Sawyer (9), Teddy (7) and Dahlia (4). Beth Register said she hopes their family's story raises awareness about the impact of living organ donation. "A lot of people don't realize that live donations, whether it be for livers or kidneys, are even an option," she said. She added that Johnston has been selfless from the start. The families believe fate had a hand in reconnecting them, per SWNS. "We just pray that God is opening all the right doors and that Kristin is the perfect donor for him." "We just pray that God is opening all the right doors and that Kristin is the perfect donor for him," Beth Register said. For more Health articles, visit She continued, "We just appreciate her being willing to put her life on pause to hopefully lengthen his life by many, many, many years."
