Imagine being a captain of your junior high football team, an honor roll student, loving school and life and then one morning you not being able to get out of bed because the pain your body has is so intense that you feel you are stuck under a rock. This became a reality in late 2004 for Ryan Thompson, a young man living in rural Huntington, Utah. Ryan started getting very ill, with achy joints, shortness of breath, and stomach pains. His mother, Yolanda took him to a local doctor and he was treated for common stomach infections. After months Ryan was still not feeling well.
One morning Ryan woke up having a hard time breathing and was taken to the local hospital by ambulance. There he was diagnosed with pneumonia, having uncertainties about this diagnosis; Yolanda asked that he be transferred to Primary Children’s Medical Center. At Primary Children’s they were told he did not have pneumonia but pulmonary nodules on his lungs, which ended up being the main cause of his shortness of breath. After finding the nodules, the doctors continued testing Ryan trying to find a source from where the nodules sprang. The tests resulted in bad news for Ryan and his very concerned family. They had discovered he also had Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and among other problems Primary Sclerosing Cholengitis (PSC) a rare liver disease, especially in children. PSC causes the bile ducts in the liver to become scared and blocked off. The nodules that had formed on his lungs were a side effect of the UC, and the UC being a side effect of the PSC.
Ryan and his family were devastated at the news, they did not understand how one day he was perfectly healthy and the next day he was in so much pain. Since the diagnosis Ryan has been put on numerous medications to help ease his pain and to reduce the symptoms and complications with these diseases. Ryan has not been able to return back to school since Thanksgiving 2007 because he gets fatigued very easily. Ryan was quite frustrated about this since he loved school and participating in extra-curricular activities, like sports, track, band and the math club.
During a hospital visit in November 2007 the doctors placed a drain tube in his liver to an area that is believed to be blocked off. Ryan was then placed on Primary Children’s Medical Centers Liver Transplants list in hopes that he would receive a much needed transplant. If a deceased donor liver hadn’t become available in time the doctors would have been forced to consider a live donor, thankfully all three of Ryan’s older brothers; Cory, Ben, and Tyler, have the same blood type. Doctors explained to the Thompson family that a full liver would be the best option for Ryan. When considering a live donor it would not be impossible, and that they would take two-thirds of the donor’s liver and transplant it over to Ryan, most likely being one of his brothers. The donor would have been left with the last third. Doctors have said that the liver is an organ that can restore itself, the donor's liver should be back to normal within 5-8 weeks and Ryan’s even though it would take a little bit longer, up to 3 months and his liver would have been back to the original size it should be. Ryan’s brother, Tyler, felt that he would have been best suited as a live donor; he was least at risk if anything went wrong. He hasn’t had to change his lifestyle much. Tyler explains, “I was ready for it from day one. Plus, I haven’t even thought twice about putting my life on the line to save his.”
In January 2008 Ryan had a blood test that showed he may have a cancerous tumor and being an adult cancer Primary Children’s had to turn his care over to University of Utah. He then went through 25 exterior radiation treatments and 4 internal treatments along with chemo therapy.
Then on the morning of July 28th about 11:30 A.M. the Thompson family received a call. The call was by no means a common one, it was the call of salvation, just the call the Thompson family had been waiting 3 1/2 years for. The man on the phone introduced himself to Yolanda and told her that there was a potential donor and asked if Ryan still wanted a transplant, she said “yes of course” but the man needed to hear it from Ryan, so she went in where Ryan was laying on her bed and told him who it was and asked him if he wanted a liver transplant, Ryan said “Yes I do”, She was then told to drive carefully and to get to the University of Utah as soon as possible. The family arrived there at 3:30 P.M. They were told Ryan’s surgery was set for 5 P.M. and that it would be a 10 to 12 hr. surgery. At 5 the family was told that the Doctors wanted to examine the organ before taking Ryan in to surgery, the next 2 hrs was a long wait not knowing if it was a go or not, at 6:45 P.M. Ryan was in surgery at the University of Utah Hospital receiving a new liver that would save his life.
The family was waiting in the waiting room and about every hour or two the operating room nurses would call and let the family know how things were going. The first call was just to let them know he was sedated and that they were ready to make the incision. At this time the lady at the counter told Ryan’s family that the donor’s family was there to recover the Donors body after the surgery, and that they were told to respect the privacy of the families in the waiting room. The Thompson family had only been waiting a short time when Yolanda knew she knew who the donors family was, she went back to the counter and asked, “what if I make contact with them?” she was told that would be fine that the donor family had already okayed it. Yolanda walked over to them and immediately they all knew who was who, it was a very emotional time for both families. The donor’s family knew that the liver was going to a 17 year old boy but when they got his picture it was tears and hugs.
The Thompsons learned that he was a man from New Orleans, small stature, loved fishing, hunting and the outdoors, he was 46 and was a very health conscious, physically and mentally. His family was all in total shock when he had a stroke. Beth (the donor’s wife) said “Gary would feel honored to save a life, especially one of a child, he loved the mountains and would have wanted to have a part of him live on here”. They also learned the donor and his wife have a 17 yr. old son and that his name is Timothy (Ryan’s father’s name). Gary being an organ donor saved many lives, these two families also met the family of a woman who received one of his lungs, this also being a life saving transplant.
Ryan’s surgery went very well with the liver working almost immediately and only spending 9 days in the hospital.
Now just because Ryan has received a donor liver does not mean that he is ready to go be the star of the football team again, he will have to take throughout his lifetime anti-rejection medications so the liver will keep working. He will be able to return within a few weeks to having a normal teenage life, with regular doctor visits to make sure that everything is still working properly. Everything is now looking up for this high school senior, all he has to worry about now is graduation, the hard part is over. Ryan's life and the lives of many other people were dramatically changed and impacted in a very positive way, thanks to the fact that this man was a donor.
The Thompson family appreciates the donations and the HELP RYAN jars in the surrounding area businesses. Donations are still needed for the many treatments he will have to endure and very much so appreciated. The Thompson family can rest well at night knowing that the support around them has helped Ryan receive a liver and will also help him on the path to recovery.
Not only has this situation taken an all around physical and emotional drainage on Ryan and his family but it has also put a great financial endeavor on them. The many doctor visits and all the tests Ryan has endured are exceptionally expensive, but they now have one less thing to worry about, he has the liver. As a family and friends of the family, we are hoping to find some financial help with these particular medical expenses. Listed below are methods of which donations can be made:
At any Wells Fargo Bank under the account name Ryan Thompson Liver Fund
Through PayPal at the website www.HELPRYANNOW.com
Or by check made out to Ryan Thompson Liver Fund and sent to 525 Emery Ave., Orem, UT, 84057; care of Tyler Thompson.
