Comments on: Inside Steve Jobs' liver transplant

By: Abbie Frederick,MD

Abbie Frederick,MD — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:23:05 +0000

I have Hep C and received a liver trabsplant July 2001 at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va. After a very rocky course and a 3 month long coma, kidney shut-down & dialysis & diabetes, I recovered and re-learned to sit up and walk, etc. My daughter who is 27 also has hep c, contracted from me when she was born and I did not know I had it yet. She is listed for transplant at Johns Hopkins, because Inova Fairfax no longer performs liver transplants. Today she began to show signs of possible internal hemorrhage (bright red blood in her stool) so the whole family is on pins & needles- could this be it??? Please remember Robbi and her family (husband & 2 girls ages 9 and 3) in your prayers. Thank You.

By: Dan Mount Shingletown, CA

Dan Mount Shingletown, CA — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:27:41 +0000

I have hep c and I would do anything not to! Everyone is motivated by their survival, period! Hang in there Steve!

By: Dorothy, Alexandria, Virginia

Dorothy, Alexandria, Virginia — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:58:39 +0000

My beloved twin sister was a patient at Georgetown University Hospital on the transplant list for a liver. A liver became available and unbelievably, even though she was a patient in their hospital, they called her at home 3 times within 5 hours and told her to come to Georgetown Univ Hospital for a liver transplant. She did not get the message because she lived alone and no one was at her home to take the call and tell them to go to her room on the 5th floor where she was a patient in their hospital. My beloved sister died 2 weeks later of liver and kidney failure after suffering cardiac arrest from all the fluid in her lungs. Yes, she also was listed as obese because she had gained over 50 pounds of fluid. I will never recuperate from this tragedy. To hold my twin in my arms as she took her last breath was worse than my husband's death. God have mercy on anyone that needs a transplant if they are at Georgetown University Hospital.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:09:18 +0000

"Blood from the liver is replaced by an ice-cold solution until the organ can be replaced."

Are you RETARDED?

I think what you meant was during preservation of the donated organ, the blood is removed and replaced with an ice cold solution. No, we don't go around pumping ice cold solution into people's circulatory system.

Thanks for playing!

Do you just write whatever people tell you or do you occasionally use your brain? By the way, I'm not a doctor.

By: Sandra,Gray Court, South Carolina

Sandra,Gray Court, South Carolina — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:01:23 +0000

Rickey Lynn, I lost my husband 9/1/07 also and I would have given every penny I had. 2004 we found out he was going to need a liver. In june of 2007 the drs.was still refusing to put him on the transplant list eventho his MELD score was a 19. They never offered him dialysis to help his kidneys or nothing except a lot of pills that did nothing. I blame the drs. because if they don't put you on the list no one knows you exist. I don't know how bad Mr. Jobs was but he got those drs. to put him on the list somehow. In South Carolina my husband met every test they threw at him and they didn't put him on the list until 7/20/07. On 8/11/07 he got the call got his liver, came threw the operation out of CCU and on to the 6th floor where they hooked him up to a breathing machine and let him throw up in it sending everything in his stomach to his lungs and he ended up with sepsis and died. Everyone just says he wasn't one of the lucky ones. No thats not true if you don't get on the list in time you don't have a chance. People who have never been thru this with someone can't understand what they have to go thru, they may try but they can't. I don't blame Mr. Jobs for doing what he had to do to live everyone would do the same. They tell us we have to go on with our lives, I need to know how after my husband of 27 years is no longer with me. They tell us to do what we have to to get thru everyday. I tried to sue the drs. but no lawyer will touch them. So the way I have chosen to do it is, to put up a sign in my front yard recommending that everyone make sure you know what your drs. are saying about you in the report they make after your office visit. My husband had 100 lbs of fluid build-up that was coming out of his legs and they called him obese(fat) which wasn't true. My point is there are other factors that play into transplants along with money.

By: Graham, Girona, Spain

Graham, Girona, Spain — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:59:56 +0000

Wow! I live in isolation in the countryside in Spain with my Apple & iPhone. I have never met such an unbelievable, childish bunch of people. Who cares where a town is ? Who cares who got what ?

Why can't people be grateful for what they have instead of being envious of others?

Every one in the world is trying to live as long and as healthy as possible unless of course you are happy spending a fortune on smoking or drinking etc. If you love life and have made the money, for sure you need to use it to extend it.

I suggest the petty whingers get out there and get a life, start working (maybe with their "Apple" and find contentment with their own lives.

I wish Steve Jobs all the best and any one else who is having a hard time time with their health.

By: Kswift, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Kswift, Vancouver, BC, Canada — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:04:48 +0000

There are thousands of folks with many liver diseases from genetic diseases like: Wilson's, Haemochromatosis,Gilbert's syndrome,to autoimmune liver diseases like Primary sclerosing cholangitis which Walter Peyton died of and Primary biliary cirrhosis which I have. As well as the many others that are not as well known as Hepatitis, A,B,& C, alcoholic liver disease and Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease which is on the rise in America. Many of these people eventually need liver transplants. When a celebrity gets a liver it is always a bitter sweet experience for those who are also waiting for a liver. On the one hand, there is the nagging concern that "if I was famous, would I get my transplant sooner or would I be guaranteed a liver", for many die waiting, and many wouldn't even be considered if they had cancer.

On the other hand there is the hope that the celebrity is so grateful to the donor that gave him life that they become a spokesperson for those behind him on the list, waiting for a transplant. The celebrity could bring attention to the desperate need for donors of liver and other organs. This type of gesture would go a long way for Steve Jobs. It shift the limelight to a more favourable place – from lying and stock holders money concerns to helping those who are deathly ill and who couldn't possibly have the same impact a Steve Jobs could have by speaking about his ordeal. Wouldn't it be wonderful if his next move is opening his heart, not protecting his pocket.

Hopefully yours,

K. Swift

By: thecomebackgirl

thecomebackgirl — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:58:31 +0000

Wishing Steve the absolute best. Also wondering why all the negativity, false scientific assumptions, and just plain hatefulness is abound in this forum.

Stupidity is also a disease…too bad some can't get on a donor list for a little kindness, basic scientific knowledge, and the protocol for receiving an organ.

By: Kelly, Dallas TX

Kelly, Dallas TX — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:47:23 +0000

UNOS maintains strict criteria for liver transplants (MELD score and compatibility) and the sickest compatible person is at the head of the list. It's not a function of wait time, and non-celebrities can them very quickly, too. Also, people rarely announce it to the media when they get listed.

However, they should have either kept quiet about his liver condition, or told the whole truth. By announcing he was in end stage liver disease, but not specifying why, I have to admit it gives the appearance that they're hiding something.

There's always a cause for ESLD.

By: Anne, Annapolis Maryland

Anne, Annapolis Maryland — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:22:10 +0000

Hum…My mother just received a liver transplant and she was not on the list for a month. She had probelms with her liver for over two years but the doctors finally decided she should go on the list. Not a week later after being added to the list she had to go to the emergency room and was admitted because her liver was failing. The next week she was put in the intensive care unit. They found a liver for her and she received it because she was at the top of the list to receive one based on her MELD score and the liver was a match. Does she have health insurance? yes and she received it at John Hopkins in Baltimore. But she received it within the month not because she was rich or famouse but because she was a match and the most sick. but then what would have happened if there was another person on the list with the same score and the same blood, etc but the other person had no insurance?? well, geez, was all know the answer don't we. If you had a business and knew one person would pay but the other probably never would who would you pick? especially for an operation that cost half a million dollars? I would pick the one that I knew would pay.