Brothers’ scars tell a special story


We awoke to the news that the opera- tion was successful and that they had removed about 70 percent of my liver and put it in my brother. The liver is the only organ that regenerates, and mine would grow back to near its full size. Alas, no other improvements. During our recovery, Doreen and


Kelly were tireless advocates while also working their jobs and taking care of our kids. They shared a dorm room and got up at 5 a.m. to get coffee, becom- ing mini celebrities with the local fire department that loved seeing these two crazy blondes walking up 168th Street in their pajamas in the dark. They kept our well-wishers at bay while we waited for our gastro systems to restart after the abdominal surgery. Yes, there were serious prayers for farts happening in the hospital chapel that week, and when they finally happened, the entire floor exploded in celebration! Mean- while, Kevin and I would occasionally meet and walk the ward halls, once again rocking our gowns, no-slip socks and rolling IV polls. Post-surgery, I experienced a bile leakage—a common complication from liver transplant surgery—and left the hospital with a drainage tube jutting out from my abdomen with a lovely rust-colored liquid that looked like old antifreeze flowing into a plastic jar. I temporarily lost 25 pounds, and for the first few weeks home I looked like Tim Conway’s character The Old Man from The Carol Burnett Show, shuffling around the house and neighborhood in my red bathrobe as my liver gradually regenerated and my strength eventually returned. By the fall, I was back at work and running 4 miles a day. Ten years later, Kevin and my inci- sions are long healed. Since my day as “Donor #1” in the cholangiocarcinoma


setting, there have been countless others that have successfully served as living donors for cancer patients. But despite all of the amazing advances, the demand for organs continues to vastly exceed the number of donors, with a person being added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes. Here in New York, only 27 percent of people age 18 and over have enrolled in the New York State Donate Life Registry as donors. Nation- wide, the average is 50 percent. Happily, Kevin is doing great, and


he and Kelly are raising their two awe- some kids, Dylan and Reagan, and rip- ping up the surf on Long Beach, LI, ev- ery chance they get. And in September,


I’ll be walking my beautiful daughter Kathleen down the aisle to get married, with Doreen and the rest of our family all around us. Among them will be my now 81-year-old parents, spry as ever and ready to party and celebrate this wonderful gift that is life.


Nationwide, roughly 22 people die every day waiting for a liver transplant. To register to be an organ donor, visit OrganDonor.gov.


Source: Dan Martinsen is a freelance writer and strategic communications consultant. He is a former executive vice president of communications for Viacom’s Kids’ and Family Group.


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