Katrin

My husband Jeff’s story with organ donation started before I meet him. He had a liver transplant in 2011 at Jewish Hospital in Louisville. He has several autoimmune disorders and one of them is PSC. We meet at Home Depot where we both worked shortly after his first transplant and been together since 2015.

Jeff had a stroke in 2019 caused by a clotting disorder that damage his donated liver and was put back on the waiting list for a liver in June of 2024 . Due to the complicated manner of all his autoimmune disorders we were referred to Indiana University Hospital. On September 23 of this year he received his donor liver at IU. The original surgery went well, however he started having complications with bleeding, hearth rhythm issues, bowel issues and had to have three more surgery and a pace maker placed. After 30 days in ICU and another 10 days in patient at IU he was released to go to rehab. Jeff lost a lot of weight and muscle and is now working on getting his strength back. The long days and even longer nights of uncertainty were an emotional exhausting and humbling experience for me. The doctors and nurses were incredible kind and understanding. Their knowledge and experience are the reason my husband is alive today.
Before Jeff received his organ his health was declining fast and I worried so much that there will not be an organ available for him in time. I did research and started to understand even more how important organ donation is. There are not enough organs and not every story has a happy ending like ours.

I am so incredibly thankful I get to have my husband here with me because someone made the selfless decision to be an organ donor.