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Liver transplant falls through for Cascades man
Right now, Tom Butler, of Cascades, should be at Georgetown Hospital recovering from liver transplant surgery scheduled for June 17.Instead, the procedure was canceled after some issues came up involving the donor, an acquaintance of Butler's from Galilee United Methodist in Sterling.
She did not want to be identified in the newspaper.
Just 14 hours before the surgery was set to begin, Butler, 48, was notified of problems with the final blood tests for the donor.
"It was an issue that was borderline for a certain factor they were looking for," he said. "That by itself wouldn't have killed the procedure, but her liver was also slightly undersized for me. Add those two minor factors together, and it equaled too much of a risk."
For nine years, Butler has suffered from Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, which causes inflammation in the bile ducts of the liver.
Since then, his liver has been slowly failing.
He thought he had found the solution this spring when the matching donor was identified.
When a living donor is used, the large lobe of the liver is donated to the patient. Both liver halves would regenerate in about six weeks. The liver is the only organ that can regenerate in this way.
Butler spent months looking for a suitable donor whose liver matched his on various levels.
After extensive testing on the donor, he was sure the procedure would go forward.
"You expect for things to go sour with cadaver livers because they can get damaged,” he said, “but you don't expect something like this to fall through -- especially that far along in the process."
Now Butler is disappointed and back to square one in terms of finding a suitable liver donor.
He said his next step will be to appeal for people to come forward to be tested again.
"We're back to racing the clock again," he said. "But I'm still confident. When the time is right, I will find a donor."
Contact the reporter at ecoe@timespapers.com
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