After Sherry Patterson received a life-saving liver transplant from a deceased donor four years ago, she sat down to write the donor’s family a thank-you letter.
But it’s difficult to convey your gratitude to someone who endured a loss that gave you a second chance at life.
“How do you write and say thanks for giving me the ultimate gift,” Patterson explained. “I’m just so grateful, and I’m thankful.”
So she wrote: “Your relative is a hero.”
Patterson has written her donor’s family two letters, but received no response. She knows little about her donor, except their decision to be an organ donor saved her life.
This is a National Liver Disease Awareness Month, and as she has since her surgery, Patterson is beating the drums for more donors.
You need a guest speaker to advocate for organ donations, Sherry Lynn Patterson is your woman.
There was a time when Patterson, 55, who was diagnosed with end-stage liver failure, was so close to death, hospice care was notified. She even made her final arrangements at Baker-Stevens-Parramore Funeral Home in Middletown.
“I was so sick,” she said. “I wanted to die.”
Her journey to become an organ recipient began in 2019 when her ulcer started bleeding. She figured that condition was due to stress caused by her planning a major fundraising event.
But medical tests revealed she had Stage 4 cirrhosis of the liver. She didn’t understand the medical terminology, and when the doctor said Stage 4 was the worst, she said: “This isn’t good news.”
“Not in any way,” the doctor told her.
She knows the pain and loss liver disease can cause. Her father, Lester Owens Jr., an alcoholic, died of liver disease when he was 48, she said. Patterson, a social drinker, figured she’d follow in her father’s footsteps.
She was placed on a liver transplant list at Ohio State University Medical Center and waited for more than two years for a match.
When Patterson discussed her medical condition on the Cincinnati TV station, a member of the UC Health transplant team also was interviewed on the show.
The doctor later contacted Patterson about having her transplant procedure at UC Health. She underwent a rapid liver transplant evaluation. Her transplant hepatologist and the multidisciplinary transplant team confirmed she had end-stage liver disease, a critical stage of liver failure requiring urgent care.
She met with the care team on Oct. 25, 2021, and the next day she was on the transplant list at UC Health. Dr. Cutler Quillin, Patterson’s transplant surgeon, said “time was crucial” in her case.
Quillin said UC’s “unique donor evaluation process” enables it to accept organs other hospitals might reject and match them precisely to patients. This approach gives UC patients the shortest liver transplant wait time in the region, he said.
Patterson, a 1989 Carlisle High School graduate who lives in Liberty Twp., was told a liver may be available within 30 days or less.
She appreciated that, but told doctors she didn’t have 30 days. She was standing at death’s door.
The UC transplant team told her not to travel more than three hours from home, and if possible, always be by a phone in case a liver was located.
On Oct. 29, The Call came. A matching liver was found.
She got to the hospital at 3 p.m., and felt “so much hope” driving there, she said. About 12 hours later, on the morning of Oct. 30, she was wheeled back into the operating room.
When she woke up, she was amazed to find she could see and think clearly, having previously suffered from encephalopathy due to her condition.
“I have my life back, and I feel it,” she said. “There’s pure joy and happiness.”
She has a new organ and a new outlook on life.
“I live so gratefully,” she said. “I don’t let much get me down. I’m trying to be a grateful and thankful human being because somebody gave me a gift that’s so precious to me.”
A gift that has allowed her to watch her son, Kameron Leist, 17, a senior at Mason High School, attend his homecoming and prom dances. She’s looking forward to one day attending his wedding and possibly becoming a grandmother.
Living to see those milestones was only a dream four years ago.
With her new liver, Patterson goes on vacations, attends live music events and car shows with her husband, Lee Patterson, and remains actively involved in her transplant community.
Her passion for giving second chances recently extended to the animal kingdom, leading her to rescue a fox from a fur trade breeder.
A diabetic, Patterson said the fox can determine when her sugar levels are dangerous. When his tail wags clockwise, her sugar is high; counter clockwise signals it’s low.
She named him Michael Jamie Fox, and has written a children’s book chronicling his adventures.
The book, “The Adventure of MJ,” is available on Amazon and is the first in a planned series that blends storytelling with their shared advocacy work.
As she said: “I was rescued, and I rescued him.”
Columnist Rick McCrabb writes about local people and events every Sunday. If you have an idea for a story, contact him at rmccrabb1@gmail.com.
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