Hello Everyone,

It’s been a while since I have updated this page. As you all may know, I was told in 2018 that I was going to be placed on the liver transplant list following an extreme flare up with my previous condition titled “Non-cirrhotic Portal Hypertension”. Just as a refresher, I found about I had this condition when I was 12 years old, after suffering from a gallbladder attack/removal, but still had questioning complications with my liver.

Doctor’s were never able to find out the root cause of my condition and ultimately ruled it as a birth defect that needed to be monitiored continously. During those two years of waiting on the transplant list, I went through waves in my condition from my health being steady to there being bumps in the road at times. Over the last couple of months, my health started to gradually decline, however I wasn’t sick enough to where myself or my care team forsaw me receiving a liver transplant anytime soon.

However, on Wednesday, September 28 2021, at around 6:00 pm, I received a phone call from the transplant center at Emory University Hospital stating that they have a perfect liver for me and my situation. It was a partial liver, meaning that I received about 65% of the liver from the donor, and a baby was able to take the other 35% for their transplant. This type of transplant was perfect for me in this situation because I was not extremely sick at the time of surgery, I am young, and on the smaller side, therefore my doctors thought this was the perfect opportunity. 

As you can imagine, hearing the words “we have a liver for you” caused an immense range of emotions for me. Since no one was expecting this news at the time my immediate reaction was shock and a little bit of denial. It was always stuck in my head for whatever reason that I needed to get really sick before I would even get close to hearing that news. After talking to a surgeon, the transplant team, and my family I made the decision to accept the liver and accept this opportunity for a new healthy lifestyle. I received the transplant on Thursday morning starting the first day of my new transplanted lifestyle!!!

I was in the ICU for only one day, which Doctors’ and Nurses’ found to be a very promising start to my healing process. For four days, I took some time to rest, got some physical therapy, and learned how to navigate through life while my body is healing. After the surgery, I was notified that I did not actually have “Non-cirrhotic Portal Hypertenstion”. I had liver cirrhosis with portal hypertention, and it was looking a lot worse than what they initatially expected. I was released from the hospital on Monday, October 4 and having been feeling like a completely new person. This whole journey is truly a blessing, teaching me the importance of health and that things always happen on God’s timing! Thank you everyone for your well wishes and prayers. I will continue to update my page on how my recovery process is going!!