My father George was admitted to the hospital with end-stage liver disease caused by cirrhosis. After several weeks in the hospital my dad was stabilized. It was concluded after many hours of discussion with family and doctors that a relatively new procedure called a living related transplant procedure was my dad's only hope. My two sisters and I were tested to see what blood type we were. After finding out that I met the first criteria of having the same blood type as my dad (O+), the doctors turned their attention to me. I was relatively the same size as my dad and the procedure would require a large portion of my liver to be removed. I then went through many tests including blood tests, ultrasound, CT scan, pulmonary, cardiac and psychological counseling to see if I was a match and ready for a procedure of this magnitude. The news came back that I was a match and surgery was scheduled in June, 2001. The surgery was scheduled two months to the day before my wedding. The doctors said they would get us there and they did!

The staff at UCSF was absolutely amazing. They comforted my dad and me along with our entire family. They explained everything in great detail so that we could understand what was going on. I needed help after surgery to do simple day-to-day tasks. My wife Natalie and family helped me. It took six weeks until I returned to work. My liver has regenerated and I feel great. It was a whole family effort to get my dad back on his feet again. I not only saved my dad's life, but I saved my best friend's life. Thank goodness we had the UCSF Liver Transplant Team working with us.

Read George Avery's story.

Story written in 2001.