By Cecilia Nasmith
A desperate appeal on Facebook hit Cobourg resident Brad Warren pretty hard, and he knew he had to help out.
Now he is all lined up to donate 40% of his liver to a pediatric patient who desperately needs a transplant.
Warren recalls how it all came about, as he got up one morning and went through his daily routine – which always includes checking in on Facebook. He found one of his friends had shared a story about a gentleman who needed the donation of a liver, with an appeal from his wife who wanted him to live a long, healthy life with her and their two children.
“I was the right blood type, and I decided at the very least I could look into it,” he said.
Warren sent the man's family an e-mail to indicate his willingness. He got an e-mail acknowledging his interest and one from a hospital that included a couple of forms for him to provide important information like his medical history.
They liked what they saw, and asked him to come in for a variety of tests, and set up telephone consultations with a surgeon and a psychologist.
He was deep into the process, when he got a message indicating the gentleman had found another donor – and asking if he might be willing to continue being a donor.”
“I figured I've come this far for somebody I never met, I might as well do it for someone else,” Warren said.
Further tests indicated his liver was better suited for donation to a pediatric patient, and they found a match. The process is done with anonymity and confidentiality on all sides, so he is awaiting the surgery that will allow his organ donation to save the life of a child he's never met.
And Warren is good with that.
Laid off from his job at a Belleville casino since last March, unable to find employment since then, he figured he had the time to devote to it. And, as he commented, it seemed like the right thing to do.
“I'm a big advocate for donating blood when you can,” Warren said.
“Fifteen minutes of your time, a little needle in your arm, a little bit of soreness the next day, and you have probably saved someone's life. Now, with this, I have nowhere to go and no reason not to.”
His parents and sister were taken aback when he told them the news.
“When you tell somebody, 'I'm going to give a piece of my liver away,' it seems a lot bigger of a procedure than it is. But my family is super-supportive.
“And it's a super-non-invasive surgery with a very, very, very great success rate. And your liver grows back in two weeks maximum, and you're right back to normal.”
Within the boundaries of confidentiality and anonymity, Warren and his family are happy to talk about what he did – and, in effect, become advocates for organ donation. This kind of awareness is needed if more people are to sign on (as Warren did) and help save lives.
But for Warren, it was personal and it all goes back to that Facebook posting.
As much as the story saddened him, he was also affected by the hundreds of reaction postings. By an overwhelming majority, they were comments about why people couldn't help.
“That's what really got me – all those people saying, 'I wish I could do that, but I can't because etcetera, etcetera,'” he said.
“It broke my heart, so many people saying, 'I'm really a good person but I am not going to help.'”
Warren decided he would try. He's very glad the gentleman found the donor, and he's especially glad he completed the donor process and is now going to take his turn to save a life.
