Help Janet Hong recover from her Liver Transplant

Hi! My name is Toni and I am a friend of Janet’s and I have taken it upon myself, to reach out to all friends and families who knows this kind, generous soul, to raise some funds for Janet and James once they get to Toronto for her liver transplant.

This is Janet Hong and she needs a new liver. She's beaten the odds for 27 years — but time is now running out

Janet Hong of Maddox Cove says doctors told her she won't live another year if a donor isn't found!!!

Janet Hong, 56, is searching for a live liver donor. The match must be in good health, be between the ages of 16 and 60, have a body mass index of 30 per cent or less, live in North America, and have type O blood. (Darrell Roberts/CBC) For the second time in Janet Hong's life, a time limit has been placed on her life. At 29, the Maddox Cove woman was diagnosed with primary biliary cholangitis, an autoimmune disease of the liver where bile ducts are inflamed and destroyed. Doctors told her she had two years to live. Those supposedly final two years she turned into 27. But now, at 56, Hong said she's back to where she started as a young woman. The disease has progressed, and she has developed an additional pulmonary complication, which requires the full-time use of oxygen. Without it, she can't walk or talk.

In a race against time — and chance — Hong is searching for a live liver donor.

"I am now faced with a liver transplant because that's the only way to fix this pulmonary complication," Hong told CBC News in a recent interview. She knows the search for a living donor is a big ask, but it's her last resort. If she doesn't find a liver donor, she won't survive another 12 months. Maybe not even six. "The transplant centre told me, 'OK, listen — you need to go public with this.' So here I am."

Not defined by diagnosis

Hong's life expectancy has been uncertain for more than two decades. When she didn't expect to make it past 31, she decided her diagnosis wouldn't define her and that she'd live a good life, no matter how long she had. "When you're a kid in your 20s, that's a big thing kind of to say," Hong said. Despite her sickness, Hong makes every day count, she says, by keeping a positive attitude and filling her life with experiences by travelling the world. Travelling allows her to live a double life, she said: one in which she's a sick person and one in which she's a tourist whose reality no one knows. "When I go away. I guess I can fake that I'm not a sick person. Nobody knows me there and for better or worse, as long as I've had this illness, you know, I've never looked like a sick person," Hong said. It was like me tricking my body. 'Hey, things are good,' you know, because when I'm here there's a whole lot of medical testing and the reality of this part of my life."

Staying positive

Janet was trying to convince her friends to climb Mount Everest when her health took a turn.

She started having trouble breathing. In the last six months, Hong's breathing has continued to decline, making the liver transplant a necessity.

"Only last week I started to have to take full-time oxygen to even walk around and talk," Janet said. This month, she is moving to Ontario so she can be near the hospital that will perform her transplant while she waits for the call saying doctors have found a matching donor.

Hope for the future

A liver donation could give Hong a new lease on life, so she's keeping a positive attitude without getting her hopes up, she said.

"Once I get through this little — large — hiccup of a transplant and all the new drugs that will be coming at me, I think it's gonna be great," Hong said. Bora Bora is the first destination Hong wants to visit once she heals from her transplant, she said — but she might have to start by travelling to Bonavista first.

"There have been times when I've been really sick, don't get me wrong, but you know, I should have died, and I haven't. So I guess I'm meant to keep on going past 2024," she said.

The cost for the extended stay in Toronto is atrocious, averaging about 2500-3000$ a month for accommodations, meals and transportation, and we all know with the cost of living, every little penny helps to take the burden of financial worries off of them.

Even the drive across the island and marine Atlantic ferry is a substantial amount whereas due to her medical condition and need for 24 hour oxygen, flying is not an option.

Janet is one of the most selfless people I’ve ever met and she deserves all the help anyone can offer to get them through this journey..