My name is Michael Jansky. In October of 2024, I was admitted to the hospital for a procedure to drain fluid from my stomach. The procedure never happened. I was sent to Advent Health Orlando via ambulance to ICU, where I found out the next morning that I didn’t have much longer to live unless I received a liver transplant. My wife had known something was wrong, but the stubborn person I am, I put it off. By the time I finally gathered a PCP and began testing during the summer it was too late. This diagnosis was shattering. I felt lost, hopeless, and honestly completely useless. This also came after a brief hospital stay in August where I was referred to a GI doctor. All that aside, I was able to successfully have a transplanted liver on 11/20/24. It was not a smooth process. I was taken back in for emergency surgery that evening, and it didn’t look great. I managed to pull through and would spend until February in the Orlando hospital recovering and also treating my brand new kidney failure which began as I was admitted. I began dialysis treatments shortly before the transplant and continue them now. I was officially discharged on March 3, 2025, after an additional 4 weeks at Winter Park Rehabilitation hospital. I had to learn how to sit up, stand, walk, you name it.

All of that behind, I’m still fighting battles with a weakened immune system, and I’m on the list for a kidney transplant. I currently go to dialysis 3x per week for 4-hour sessions. It had been 4 times per week, but we are starting to dial in the medicine.

I have been in and out of the hospital multiple times since March for usually 5-7 day stays. My wife has never missed a beat. She has been there as often as was/is humanly possible, going to work full time, driving an hour to come visit me, and taking care of our house and dogs.

This has been anything beyond what either of us could have imagined. I have not officially worked since October 2024, but the weeks leading up to that were sporadic due to the undiagnosed illness. All of that is to say I’m not sure what more is in store for us, but I’m ready and willing to keep fighting every single minute. They aren’t all easy days, but I’ll cherish the bad days because things could be much worse.

Please do not feel obligated to donate; I also want to share my story. If you feel like something isn’t correct with your body, please go to the doctor and just get some blood work done. It can quite literally save your life. I also encourage you to donate blood (it saved me with surgery and multiple blood transfusions) and register to be a living organ donor. It is a monumental ask but just consider it and share the idea with others. So many people need help and so many are willing but unsure how to begin the process.Living Donor Website