Son gave part of his liver to save father
A resident of Michigan John Barnes struggled with cirrhosis of the liver, and in order to survive, a man needed a transplant of this organ.
His name was added to the 17 list of thousands of patients who really needed a quick liver transplant, writes CNN.
The dreaded statistics states that every year 1,5 thousands of people with such a diagnosis die in anticipation of a donor.
The very thought that someone must die in order for him to receive a donor organ was unpleasant to him.
But there was another way.
John's doctor told him that part of the liver could regenerate into a complete organ - this meant that the donor could be a living person, and after the transplant, both donor and recipient could live a normal, healthy life.
But living donors are also very difficult to find. The best option in this case is someone from the family, but John forbade his four children even to pass tests for compatibility.
However, his youngest son disobeyed his father. 23-year-old Brian Barnes passed all the tests, not to mention his father. When the doctors said that for the best effect, he needed to lose weight before surgery, Brian dropped 25 pounds (11 kg) in 6 weeks.
John was glad that they had found a donor, but when he learned that it was his son, he felt guilty and frightened.
"I was shocked. I was worried about the risk he was putting himself at. I spent months, maybe even years, thinking about the living person who was going to die to save my life. And now my son was exposed to this risk. That evening I had difficult emotions and a lot of tears,” John admitted.
Doctors assured that it was worth the risk, but he was still worried.
The operation was successful, both men are at home for rehabilitation and are competing with each other in who will recover faster.
“He has a scar that reminds me of what he gave me, and I have a much bigger scar that reminds me that he saved my life. This is something we share forever,” John Barnes explained his feelings after the operation.
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