Carroll Long

I can't put Into words the appropriate amount of appreciation, love & feelings I have. It’s beyond mere words that I can send to my donor family.

I was 36, a wife and mother to 3 kids. At the time, my kids were 13, 14 and 15. I had never even been away from them and now, I was sick, really sick. I couldn't even perform daily activities, including barely bathing myself, much less help my children with homework or sporting events that they participated in. It got to a point that I couldn't even clean the house.

I had always been active. I kept going in and out of the hospital. Finally, the military base we lived on sent me in an ambulance from Biloxi Mississippi to Ochsner in New Orleans. I was in New Orleans for a week to have a workup on my liver. Every test under the sun, all to tell me I was dying! I had to have a transplant. I had to have a full liver. A living donor with a piece of liver would not be a option.

I knew then someone would have to die for me to live, and that isn't something to take lightly much less knowing if they don't, I will die for sure. My children will lose me no questions asked. I was told I had to be within so many miles of the hospital if I was to go on the list. After a week of tests I was sent home to Biloxi. I was even more sick, so very sick due to the toxins building. Half the time I was so toxic that I was talking crazy. I wasn’t home 3 days before I had to go back to the ER, and they immediately sent me by helicopter back to New Orleans where I spent the next 6 months of my life in ICU.

I would walk the halls. I cried. I saw people come and go. My kids couldn't visit until they were called in because I was nearing the end. I was scared, lonely and afraid.

One day I was told a liver matched however, someone else needed a heart and a liver and they matched too. So I was going to be taken to pre-op and prepared for transplant in case the liver and heart patient declined. Well I don't know how long I was in pre-op before I was taken back to my ICU room. The transplant was a no-go. The liver was given to that patient and I was devastated. The doctors told me I could have only HOURS to live, and then magic happened. Another match became available. I was sent back to pre-op, this time it was my time.

I still don’t know much about my donor. I was told it was a MALE IN HIS 30s with possible hepatitis. Do I want it? I said yes. To this day, I still test NEGATIVE for hepatitis, praise the Lord. After the transplant surgery, I woke up on a ventilator. I found out later that I was on life support for 3 months. I woke up with a trach in my throat and had to learn to walk and talk and eat again.

I had my transplant on Aug 26th, 2015 and woke up in late October. I was able to return home by November.

Bless the family who selflessly gave me a chance at life, even though they have to grieve their loved one. I am a testament that life does go on even if it's not in the shell of the body of the hero who had to move on to Paradise. Bless you donor family. I can never, ever thank you enough. I would love to hear from my donor family. Thank you will never be enough.

Love, Carroll