Man Meets The Butler County Woman Who Donated A Portion of Her Liver To Him
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Sometimes, the stars align just right to make a miracle happen.
An unimaginable diagnosis led Jim Capuano on the hunt for a liver transplant. His daughter, Laura, desperately wanted to donate for him, but her blood type was not a match, leaving her father no option but to wait on the transplant list.
That is when the family reached out to UPMC.
"We find another donor that could give to this person. And then the donor that was scheduled to go to this person goes to another person, in which case we create a chain of transplants where everyone gets a compatible liver," Dr. Christopher Hughes, UPMC's surgical director of liver transplantation, said.
That altruistic donor was Dorean Demar from Butler County.
"Once God puts something on your heart, you can't run from that," Demar said.
From there, doctors set a plan in motion. Demar would donate to Jim Capuano and Laura would donate to a woman from Maryland. On July 16, they had the operation.
"It restores our faith in humanity when we can see people step forward like that," Dr. Hughes said.
The surgery was a success. The donors and recipients met for the first time this week.
"I just said thank you so much, you've extended my life. We were both real teary-eyed," Jim Capuano said.
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