windsor woman on liver transplant list finds donor close to home
a windsor woman whose family put out a desperate public...
2 minute read
jody jackson is shown with her son nate at windsor's ojibway nature complex in the fall of 2020. nate is donating part of his liver to his mother, who suffers from a chronic disease.
courtesy of jackson family
/
windsor star
a windsor woman whose family put out a desperate public plea for a donor two months ago is set for transplant surgery on wednesday after life-saving help was found very close to home. “mom is stable — they’re taking amazing care of her,” said daughter kailey jackson, referring to the toronto general hospital medical team preparing her mother.
jody jackson, 49, has suffered for years from primary biliary cholangitis (pbc) for which she is among a smaller group of sufferers who can’t be helped by available drugs developed to treat the chronic disease. she was told in december 2017 she didn’t have long to live but has been fighting ever since.
at the beginning of april, with the liver not functioning and other internal organs “fighting each other,” kailey said her mother was “potentially in a critical state” and admitted to toronto general hospital, where she has been ever since.
“so many people reached out,” kailey said of the public response to her family’s call for help. “the community is so supportive.”
after initial blood and then follow-up tests and medical evaluation, kailey’s brother nate was informed on may 16 that he was a match for a partial liver transplant for his mother and that june 1 would be the transplant date.
advertisement
nate, 26, was set to undergo covid testing on monday followed by isolation until wednesday’s operations. his surgery, to remove a portion of liver that will regenerate over time, is estimated to take six to eight hours, while jody’s surgery to implant the donated portion of liver is expected to take anywhere between six and 10 hours, according to kailey.
with a three- to six-month recovery period for nate and at least six months of recovery time for his mother, who will have weekly hospital follow-up visits, the family has leased an apartment in toronto. nate, a windsor auto body man, will be off work for months, and with other expenses expected to be racked up, a family member has set up a gofundme account (‘pbc family needs help’) to financially assist.
but this week’s operations are expected to put an end to a nine-year health ordeal for jody jackson and her family.
kailey encourages more people to sign up to become organ donors. “there’s always a need for donors,” she said.
share story
