Liver Transplant – Lynn Tetler

I was diagnosed with auto-immune hepatitis in 1994. I was placed on several drugs to try to stop the disease, however my liver was severely damaged. The doctor’s felt that my liver had slowly been destroyed, probably over a ten year period, and once they diagnosed the disease it was too late to repair my liver. My only chance of survival was a liver transplant. What a shock to me and my family!! I never had any major signs or symptoms that anything was wrong. I had been very tired for several years but that was attributed to the fact that I was working full time, had a small child and was attending night classes at the local University. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. It didn’t seem real. Being on the waiting list was very stressful. Not knowing at which moment I would be paged to go to the hospital and if the donated organ would be a match. Not knowing if I would survive this major surgery was my biggest worry. I wanted to live to see my son grow up.

I was very fortunate. Due to someone’s extreme generosity in donating their loved one’s organs, I was able to receive a healthy new liver. It has been 13 years since that time. I am so very grateful to my donor family!

Every day I give thanks to my donor and family for their generous and most precious gift of life to me. May God bless them !