Post surgery photo by Hillary Campbell


Hillary Campbell is my niece........a beautiful, spunky, independent, resourceful and talented woman.  Her liver, however, has decided to crap out on her.  Fortunately, on March 13th she received a liver!!!!  She is currently still in the hospital and is recovering, with some bumps in the road.  It will be a long road for her, including being hyper alert to possible signs of rejection.  Here is her story:

In January of 2019 she was on a trip to the Dominican Republic with her cousin and friends.  They noticed that the whites of her eyes had started turning yellow.  It was time to get it checked out as soon as she returned.  She went to the hospital in February of 2019, and when the results were discovered she was asked to go directly to the Emergency Room (do not pass go, do not collect $200......go now).  At the E.R. she was told that she had Mononucleosis and that she should get weekly blood tests to see what else might be happening.  Through this testing she learned that she has a genetic abnormality called Alpha-1 Antitrypsin (AAT) Deficiency.  This eventually leads to cirrhosis of the liver.

Up until the transplant she was muscle wasting, had to be very careful about what she ate and was on too many medications to mention.  She is a trooper and is doing the best that she can to move forward and fight.  .  

Here are the ways you can help.

1.  You can donate blood if you are type O blood (and really any other blood type as you could help anyone out there who is needing blood)
2.  You can donate to this fundraiser, which is set up to help her with expenses incurred in her liver transplant, hospital bills, post transplant medications, doctor visits, etc.
4.  Register to become an organ donor in case something happens to you.  This can save many lives (and help people on the organ donation list)
5.  SHARE this fundraiser with friends and family
6.  Email or text her for support (don't use FB messenger as she doesn't use that).  Email address is [email redacted]


Thank you all :)
Carolyn Hall (aunt)


For those of you who geek out on medical details you can read below :)

Cirrhosis of the liver means that the liver will deteriorate until it doesn't function anymore.  Without a transplant, this condition is terminal.  In addition, cirrhosis then causes the body to have ascites, which Hillary was experiencing.  Ascites is the buildup of fluid in your belly, often due to severe liver disease. The extra fluid makes your belly swell.  Because of this, Hillary was having to go through a procedure called Paracentesis.  They put a catheter into her abdomen and suck out all the extra fluids (sometimes weekly, sometimes less).  Either way, it's uncomfortable, painful and just a plain pain in the ass.

On top of the above, she has a large umbilical hernia (nicknamed "Durdle"), which they can't operate on because it's too high risk.  Same goes for the gall bladder she needs removed because of gall stones.  Lastly, she has Thrombocytopenia, a condition in which you have a low blood platelet count. Platelets (thrombocytes) are colorless blood cells that help blood clot. Platelets stop bleeding by clumping and forming plugs in blood vessel injuries.  So, she has trouble with getting her blood to clot.  

She was watching as each week the doctors told her what her MELD score is.  This score is a primary determining factor for who gets a cadaver liver transplant.  Her MELD got up to 28 in the hospital and you need to have a MELD score of 30 to qualify for a transplant.  On March 10th she was told there was a liver for her, completely unexpectedly, as she was in the hospital to get her blood work balanced.  After hours of waiting to hear from the transplant team, she was informed at 5am that the liver was given to someone else.  But thanks to the amazing hepatologists at USC Keck Hospital, they were determined to find her another option, which they did on March 10th!