Angie & Jim

Transplant List Activated ✅by Angie

Yesterday, it became official: I am now active on the organ list for a heart+liver transplant.

We just spent three weeks in Hawaii visiting the Carlsons. It was truly magical to have so much mental and emotional time to feel normal – three weeks in which all this transplant stuff just disappeared. It felt like living in a dream. But reality set in the day we arrived home when the transplant coordinator called to notify me that the cardiac team had just met and submitted their approval. That was last Friday; the liver team met on Wednesday with the same result. On Thursday, Jim and I both met with Dr. Lui (my cardiologist and main doctor in all this). It was an unexpectedly emotional conversation. I am so grateful to have Dr. Lui and all the amazing people at Stanford helping me through this process.

It’s unlikely that anything will change anytime soon. I technically have to be ready to take the call at any time, but I am going to be very, very difficult to match. There are some antibody-cancelling therapies they plan to try that may help a little. Still, we’re looking at months or even years waiting on the list, rather than weeks.

Sorry I haven’t kept up with posting the nitty gritty details of appointments and tests it has taken to get here, but there was just too much. Next up is multiple rounds of additional vaccines that I need to fortify my immune system response to disease before they give me a bunch of stuff to inhibit my immune response to foreign tissue.

Thank you for following along in this difficult journey ahead of us. We appreciate your continued support and love. As usual, we’ll continue posting here to keep you all informed as things develop.