Teofila: Recipient of a living donor liver
Teofila was sick with liver disease for years and getting worse. After two years on the transplant waiting list, time was precious. Terry helped his brother’s wife the best way he thought he knew—making delicious turkey soup.

Soup in hand, Terry suddenly knew he could do more, "The Lord spoke to my heart." Terry asked his doctor about being a potential donor; his doctor sent him to The Transplant Center. Not a blood relative, it was a surprise that Terry was more than a good match – he was a perfect match for Teofila.

With a living donor, her wait for the transplant ended. Terry’s employer generously offered to pay his base salary for all the time he needed for surgery and recovery. Terry and Teofila are back with their families, back at work and enjoying their lives to the fullest. Before surgery, Teofila hoped to see her son graduate from high school. She was there, and at her daughter’s graduation the next year.

Today, Teofila is a survivor and a proud new grandmother. Terry wants people to know that they have inside them the ability to save lives.

Twice the Impact: Surgeons perform medical center’s first "domino" liver transplant
Jerry Beauchamp’s liver disease was slowly debilitating him. Diagnosed with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) at age 67, he needed a transplant before his disease forced him into a wheelchair.

As he waited for a liver, he says he was apprehensive about "taking a liver from someone else" at his age. When he was told that there was a chance he could donate his liver to save someone else, the sadness he felt for the donor family was met with the joy that he would be able to give a gift as well. Beauchamp received his new liver Feb. 1 and became part of the first "domino transplant" at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview.

A twofer
Domino transplants occur when an organ from a deceased donor is transplanted into a recipient whose organ then is transplanted into a second recipient. Domino transplants are rare but have been known as an effective way of overcoming the shortage of organs available for transplant.

A FAP patient is a good candidate for a domino transplant because, unique to the disease, the liver is anatomically and functionally normal once removed.

Domino transplants are uncommon due to the low frequency of FAP and the difficulty of coordinating such a transplant. About 30 domino transplants were performed in the United States in 2006, according to most recent statistics from the Familial World Transplant Registry.

"The liver has about 500 functions. If only one thing goes bad, the effects can take many years to have a clinical impact," says Abhi Humar, MD, his transplant surgeon. "So, you can transplant the liver into someone else who has complete liver failure; it may be 20 to 30 years until that one thing starts to affect them."

Optimistic future
A year ago, Beauchamp was diagnosed with FAP, an inherited disorder that causes the liver to produce an abnormal protein that is deposited in other parts of the body and can build up to cause neurological problems. The disease was keeping him from the activities he loves—gardening, woodworking and camping.

Though Beauchamp’s liver was harming him, it would soon have the chance to help heal 61-year-old Charles Lowe. Lowe was diagnosed with liver cancer around the same time as Beauchamp was diagnosed with FAP. His outlook wasn’t good, but when his transplant coordinator told him a liver was available, he regained hope. The same day Beauchamp received his new liver, he gave Lowe optimism for the future.

"Now I have hope. I am so grateful that I don’t know what to do. I feel 110 percent better than I did before," says Lowe. As for his future, "I hope to get back to bass fishing this summer. That’s my real passion."

Beauchamp is also doing well, but still waiting to see if his new liver will help reverse the effect that FAP has already had on his body. In the meantime, he’s looking forward to spending time with his seven grandchildren.