Support for Gord Hicks: Surgical Procedure

Hello to all,

My name is Carrie, and I am fundraising for my husband, Gord Hicks who is in desperate need of a liver transplant. The transplant will be in Vancouver, BC and he will have months of recovery in Vancouver ahead of him.

It has taken almost 2 years of testing, specialist appointments, weekly blood work, CTs, and MRIs just to get Gord on the transplant wait list. Now thankfully, after numerous hospital visits and admissions, he has finally moved up the list and is sitting very close to the top. Finding a donor will still be a bit of a challenge as Gord has a rare blood type of A- .

I would like to share some of Gord's Journey and why he's in need of transplant surgery. A few years ago in Jan 2020, Gord hadn't been feeling himself. He was experiencing unusual symptoms that hospitalized him and he was eventually diagnosed with liver disease (cirrhosis). With the cirrhosis, he developed a condition called Hepatic Encephalopathy (HE). With this condition the liver can not filter out the harmful toxins from the body and in turn these toxins travel to the brain and it can become very serious, very quickly such as a coma or even death. There have been many nights where I have just laid and watched him breathe hoping that it doesn’t come to that.

Gord experiences episodes of extreme tiredness and fatigue, confusion, loss of thought during conversation, short term memory loss and struggles with his fine motor skills at times. The Hepatic Encephalopathy is the reason for the transplant.

On Thursday Nov 2nd 2022 we got “the call” that a liver was available and the planning began. We knew ahead of time that finding accommodations, transportation etc.. would be a challenge especially near the Vancouver General Hospital. Unfortunately, we were unable to book ahead of time as it is unknown of when a liver may become available. So after making a crazy amount of phone calls we were ready to go. The next day we were on a flight from Kelowna to Vancouver. Gord was admitted on Friday with surgery planned for Saturday morning at 10am.

Unfortunately, the transplant was cancelled.

It wasn’t until the doctors had a chance to see the liver in person, they determined that it was not a suitable donor, and Gord was discharged a couple of hours later. We both experienced so many emotions that day. We finally made our way back home after delays and cancelled flights due to the weather and an airline system failure.

We were only home for 1 day and another call comes in. Another liver was available! Shocked as to how fast that happened, it was back to the airport and Gord was admitted the same day (Thursday Nov 10th). It is now Friday Nov 11th and it’s surgery day.

Waiting with bated breath to see if this surgery was going forward, we finally got the ok that this donor was a good fit and Gord went into surgery at 4pm. It’s a long surgery 6-10 hrs and waiting for the call to say it went successfully is agonizing.

Gord has so much life left to live and he will fight his way through recovery with the love and support of family and friends. We are very fortunate to have supportive parents and a wonderful blended family of 4 adult children/spouses and 7 beautiful grandkids.

The purpose of this fund raiser is to help generate some funds for accommodations, transportation and any medical supplies/medications Gord may need going forward. He will be in the ICU for up to a week and then moved to the transplant ward for up to a month. Then, he will have weekly clinic check ups watching for infection and rejection. This will continue for a minimum of 3 months living in Vancouver.

Providing all is well, I will be able to take Gord back home to Salmon Arm with trips back to Vancouver twice a month and so on over the next year.

Unfortunately, we will need to maintain our residence in Salmon Arm and live in Vancouver at the same time and this will have a significant financial impact on us. We knew it would be expensive, however until we got down to Vancouver we realized just how expensive it really was going to be.

We understand for many people they have their own financial challenges going on these days. So, please don’t feel obligated to donate, we totally understand. You are still so helpful by saying a prayer for Gord, wishing him positive thoughts and sharing his story with your family and friends.

Thank you for taking the time to read my husband’s story. I know in my heart, Gord will have a successful recovery. I will continue to update his journey as it continues.

Sincerely

Gord & Carrie Hicks