Even seven years later, Shaune still didn’t know much about transplants, but he learned about UPMC’s living donor program that enabled people to donate part of their liver while still alive.
“As soon as I was diagnosed, my husband told me ‘This is where you need to go,’” says Patty. “‘You need to go to the best. And UPMC is the best.’”
In any given year, there are about 10,000-11,000 people like Patty on the waiting list for a liver transplant. Only about 8,000 of them will receive the donation they desperately need. As one of the leading transplant centers in the world, UPMC was uniquely positioned to help Patty and her family.
“Not every center in the country is able to do a living-donor liver transplant,” explains Dr. Christopher Hughes, surgical director of the UPMC Liver Transplant Program. “It’s something we try to perfect here at UPMC. That’s why we’re the biggest center for living-donor liver transplants in the country.”
In the fall of 2022, Patty Madden’s health took a sharp turn for the worse. Seven years prior, she had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver after losing her breath while going up and down the stairs. Now, her body was retaining fluids and swelling. Patty went to the hospital, where they told her she needed a transplant.
But while Patty was breaking the news to her family and contemplating her unclear future, her adult son, Shaune, was remembering a promise he’d made as a teen when his mother was first diagnosed.
“I had been like, ‘Oh yeah! I will totally be the donor for this,’” says Shaune. “Because what did I know at the time?”
Son gives mother second chance at life through living liver donation
Not every center in the country is able to do a living-donor liver transplant. It’s something we try to perfect here at UPMC. That’s why we’re the biggest center for living-donor liver transplants in the country.
Christopher Hughes, MD
Surgical Director at UPMC Liver Transplant Program
First on the Scene
Shaune took action. He went in to speak with his mother’s doctors, including Dr. Hughes, and he found the process to be surprisingly easy. Once he was deemed healthy, both physically and emotionally, doctors scheduled the procedure. On surgery day, Shaune and Patty arrived in the pre-operation area, told Dr. Hughes they felt great, and within 15 minutes, both patients were asleep and in the operating room. In the end, Shaune gave his mother 45% of his liver.
“I woke up, and everything was feeling great,” he says. “My family was in the room sitting next to me. I immediately asked how Mom was. They told me she had been up for two hours. I was like, ‘Okay. I guess I slept in.’ It couldn’t have gone more smoothly.”
Meanwhile, Patty was eager to make sure that her son and donor was awake, healthy, and feeling okay. She was relieved to find him smiling and happy.
Dr. Hughes was happy too.
“These patients become like our families,” says Dr. Hughes. “We see them and get to know them, and we get them through this, and they’re grateful. We all feel the happiness that’s associated with that.”
Today, Shaune lives a full, healthy, and active life. He also relishes every moment he gets to spend with the woman who gave him life and to whom he was able to repay the favor.
“Being a living donor is such a simple process,” he says. “It has such a small impact on your life, and you save someone else’s.”
No one understands that better than Patty.
“Every day is a great experience for me because I might not have had this experience if I wouldn’t have had a transplant,” she says. “I’m not sure how long I would’ve been here. So, I appreciate every day.
“I can even keep up with everybody now,” she jokes. “I have a 24-year-old liver, so I’m good to go.”
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Myth Buster: Five misconceptions about organ donation
The general public’s misunderstanding of organ donation isn’t just a minor inconvenience — it’s literally a matter of life or death.
UPMC’s internationally renowned transplant program gives patients a second chance at life
Even before he was a young surgeon training in Brazil in the early 2000s, Dr. Pablo Sanchez has been fascinated by organ transplantation.
In Allegheny County, crisis resolution is just a phone call away
Maybe your issues are chronic, as with clinical depression or anxiety; or perhaps you are just struggling and can’t pinpoint why.
“Every day is a great experience for me because I might not have had this experience if I wouldn’t have had a transplant,” she says. “I’m not sure how long I would’ve been here. So, I appreciate every day.
“I can even keep up with everybody now,” she jokes. “I have a 24-year-old liver, so I’m good to go.”
Living organ donors give the gift of life
For Dr. Sood, the emphasis is on living donors. That’s because Dr. Sood knows that recipients of organs from living donors tend to fare much better after surgery.
Living organ donors give the gift of life
For Dr. Sood, the emphasis is on living donors. That’s because Dr. Sood knows that recipients of organs from living donors tend to fare much better after surgery.
Medically reviewed by Christopher Hughes, MD.