Shortly after his son’s first birthday in 2019, Arnaldo Valentin received news that would change the course of his family’s life. Valentin had cirrhosis of the liver and would need a liver transplant.
Like the thousands of patients in the U.S. waiting for a donor, he knew there was a chance he might never get the transplant he needed. His wife, Crystal Vasquez, stepped in to become her husband’s living donor.
“He’s my best friend and my husband so why wouldn’t I want to do it?” Vasquez said. “God put me here to do some work, so I did it.”
The process was not easy for either of them. Vasquez had to undergo testing to ensure she was a match, participate in donor education and was told she needed to lose weight.
“She would get up every morning and go to the park and walk miles and miles and miles. Sometimes I would walk with her, and I would get tired, but I would sit there and watch her knowing she was doing all of this for me,” Valentin said.
He suffered setbacks that included a ruptured blood clot and a COVID diagnosis that postponed his transplant surgery. Meanwhile, Vasquez was tending to her husband’s medical needs while caring for three children.
Thankfully she was able to lean on family when she needed it most, including her sister and mom and her daughter, Nasia.
“We are so proud of our daughter because she went through this with us and understood all of what was happening, while trying to graduate high school.”
Only around half of the approximately 20,000 people awaiting a liver transplant in the U.S. get one. Liver donation is unique in that people can donate part of their liver and it will regenerate provided it’s in a healthy environment, said Ramesh Batra, MD, surgical director of the Center for Living Organ Donors liver program at Yale New Haven Transplantation Center and associate professor of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine (YSM).
At Yale New Haven Health, the donor and recipient have their own care teams. Transplantation surgeries, among the most complex, can take up to 24 hours. Living donor liver transplant surgeries are at the pinnacle of this complexity.
On Dec. 1, 2022, Dr. Batra removed part of Vasquez’s liver, which David Mulligan, MD, professor of Surgery, YSM, transplanted into Valentin.
“The piece that we removed from her fit like a glove in her husband,” said Dr. Batra. “It was a match made in heaven because it wasn’t just an emotional connection that both of them carry; they also had an anatomical connection.”
After his transplant Valentin needed three additional surgeries, in part because of issues related to his pre-existing blood clot. But two years later, he said he feels “amazing.” He and Vasquez continue to follow up with their care teams once a year.
Not everyone has a family member or friend willing and able to become a living organ donor, but the Transplantation Center team has had cases where living donors offer to help people they don’t know.
“That is something so impressive that hooks communities together,” Dr. Batra said.
Perspectives | November 07, 2024
