My name is Kelly McCourt Springman. I was diagnosed with NAFLD when I was 28 years of age. As I aged, my liver condition worsened, and I was uninformed by my former health care provider that his findings had shown Non-Alcoholic Cirrhosis of the Liver in 2016-17. My condition began declining at a steady pace and my transplant team educated me on my future transplant needs. I had a score of 49, which is past transplant requirements and I was coming to the end of my journey rapidly. I was hospitalized off and on during my 7-year fight with nonalcoholic cirrhosis and other health conditions that derived from this devastating disease: a Splenic Aortic Aneurysm that ruptured, hyper para thyroid, and congestive heart failure.
Finally, in December 2023, the ending stages of my life were unstoppable. By February 2024 I thought I would never return home. On March 11th my heart went into Afib, my organs began to shut down, my kidneys failed, and I had a stroke.
I had been blessed to have found a living liver donor, but my liver was not going to function with a partial liver. We were told that I required a liver from a deceased donor. Needless to say, we all felt that I would not make the wait, nor could my body endure anymore.
I became unable to participate in my care planning; I was being sustained by medical methods and machines. My fear of leaving my daughter and husband was turning into my reality.
By the Grace of God, a donor liver became available. I was so ill they could only debate minutes, so on March 11th, 4 days before my 61st birthday, God placed before my family my hero or heroine. A 26-year-old healthy liver that would end up being a perfect match. So perfect my incredible surgeon was able to turn an 18-hour surgery into 5 hours!!! I had seconds, they tell me. In fact, the transplant team doctors say that I am the sickest person they have ever transplanted.
On March 15th my body began declining and bleeding, so on my birthday they took me back in. After a very long, long time of kidney dialysis, ventilation, feeding tubes, and connected to a zillion machines, my weak and fragile body kept fighting. God's power was evident. After months of hospitalization, I made it home on April 30th.
If it wasn't for this precious person, I would not be here to tell their story and mine. To whoever my donor’s family is, please know that I tell your child daily that I love them and will take care of them. God is using our story for presentations all over to help others. I pray that I can tell the donor family thank you for giving me life!!
