DONOR | Hannah's Story

Hannah Gelinas

LIVING Liver DONOR NEEDED

The fluctuating symptoms and deep concerns about future life pose an increased personal suffering -

Hello - I'm Hannah. I have end stage liver disease and I am in need of a transplant. My best option is a living donor. My Transplant Care Team believes that I am the perfect candidate.

Being diagnosed with liver failure turned my life into an unpredictable rollercoaster. It is an invisible disease - a silent killer.

"Living with liver disease implies an unpredictable condition with a progressive disease. The fluctuating symptoms and deep concerns about future life pose an increased personal suffering." (Hjorth, M, Svanberg, A, Sjöberg, D, Rorsman, F, Kaminsky, E. Liver cirrhosis turns life into an unpredictable roller coaster: A qualitative interview study. J Clin Nurs. 2020; 29: 4532–4543. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15478)

My thoughts about the future and realizing that the disease could lead to early death is difficult for me to process. I am experiencing the awareness and grief about the seriousness of the disease.

A transplant would mean the world to me. It is truly magical that it is a possibility to take part of another person's healed liver and regenerate mine with it. I feel so lucky to be the perfect candidate for a living donor.

A living donor transplant will shorten my wait for an organ. Transplant centers have better outcomes. Health information will be more accurate from a living donor. The surgery will be done at the same time - a planned appointment and nothing last minute. The outcome will be a better quality liver from a healthy living person. The probability of death after living donor liver transplant is much lower which makes it a much better option. I have so much life left in me and I am working so hard to prove how much I want another chance.
Those interested can register confidentially for a living donor evaluation - call 1-866-925-3897 - give them my name and follow along from there.
Please share my story. Spreading the word could save my life. Thank you. ☀️💫

START YOUR JOURNEY

Become Hannah Gelinas's Donor

If you are considering being a living donor please use links below to contact Hannah Gelinas's Transplant Center. Begin by completing the donor questionnaire

Fill Out DONOR Questionnaire
(INQUIRES ARE 100% CONFIDENTIAL)

Becoming a Liver DONOR Find a Transplant Center near you

Yale New Haven Transplantation Center

333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06520

(866) 925-3897 Email Transplant Center

Did you know?

Medical expenses for living organ donors are 100% covered, and inquires from potential donors are 100% confidential! Contact the Transplant Center to learn more about living donation.

More Donor FAQs

Share the Importance of Living Donation

Liver transplantation has been a successful treatment and standard of care for end-stage liver disease since the early 1980s.

Technical advancements in liver surgery, as well as the liver's tremendous ability to regenerate, have made living donor liver transplantation a life-saving reality.

There are currently 120,000 people waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant in the U.S. Of these, 15,000 await liver transplants.

Although more than 6,000 liver transplants were performed last year, over 1,700 patients died while waiting on the list.

Deceased donor livers are allocated to patients based on how sick they are, determined by their MELD score, where sicker patients receive priority.

Living donation offers patients the option of transplant before they get very sick--regardless of MELD score--significantly decreasing the time they wait for a liver.

Living donation not only saves the life of the recipient; it also frees up a liver for a patient on the waiting list who does not have that option.

The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) and Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease (PELD) are numerical, objective scales that allocate available livers to the sickest patients. Patients move up the list as their scores increase.

The first living donor liver transplant took place in 1988. Since then, living donors have continued giving the gift of life and making a difference.

When a recipient has a living donor, the wait time for transplant is shorter and the transplant can be scheduled in advanced when the recipient is in good health and when it is convenient for both the donor and the recipient.

Financial burdens shouldn’t prevent the gift of life. The National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC) can offer financial support for living donor travel expenses.

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