Spare liver, anyone?

So my bro from work, Rene, has been out of commission for the past months awaiting a liver transplant. His liver is dying on him. So he's basically waiting for a donor (little known fact, there are about 6,000 some odd other people in NY alone waiting for a liver transplant).


ren is second from the right

I talked to him recently about finding a donor and asked 'well doesn't the other person need their liver!?" And here I got the low down on what happens if someone donates their liver (or specifically, a part of their liver):

- they don't lose the liver! they only donate a part of it
- you'll be out of commission for several months while you heal
- you get disability at your job
- if you're of low income (30k'ish), the government will give you a handsome reward of 6k
- you need the same blood type as the liver needer, in this case blood type A

after talking to him I cross-examined what I had gathered with my doctor friend, Thomas. Here's exactly what he told me:

Hey, about the liver and transplants, it comes down to more than just blood type. The thing is that the body has certain antibodies for foreign substances and in implanting a liver, it would be a massive foreign substance and the natural reaction of the body would be to attack it. To have a successful transplant, it would have to have similar antibodies for the body to accept it so it is more difficult for that to happen by chance, which is why family members are usually used, like cousins brothers ect. The cool thing about it though is that if it is implanted, only a portion of it would need to be implanted and then it will grow into a functional liver. Also, to make a transplant successful, they have to suppress your body's immune system so it doesn't attack the liver, even if it is similar to the body's antibodies it won't attack it and for that to be done safely he should be in the hospital for a bit just to make sure that if an infection occurs, he's right there and should be fine. Hope that helped

So it's all very complicated and a bit annoying when there's nobody willing or able to give a slice of their liver for a good cause. I hope it'll get worked out soon though so he can come back to the office and help rock out in Rock Band! yeee haw!