Manhattan Family Seeking Partial Liver Donor For Husband, Father Of 2

MANHATTAN, IL — Adam Flores was diagnosed seven years ago with primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC, "a chronic liver disease in which the bile ducts inside and outside the liver become inflamed and scarred, and eventually narrowed or blocked," according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

There is no cure for PSC, but doctors may consider a liver transplant if PSC leads to liver failure, and people with PSC also have a high risk for bile duct cancer. Such is the case for Flores.

Flores, a Manhattan resident, is 39 years old. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Jennifer Galka, and the couple's two children: Penelope Flores, 8, and Grayson Flores, 5. When the family found out that Flores now has bile duct cancer, they knew that the best course of action available to them to save his life after going through chemotherapy to try to stop the cancer from spreading would be through a partial liver donation from a living donor.

The waiting list for a liver transplant is long, and the odds are not in Flores' favor that he would get one in time before the cancer spreads and makes him ineligible for a transplant. So, the family started a Facebook page called "Adam Needs A Liver" in the hopes that they could find someone who would be a match for Flores to donate a part of his or her liver to him.

The family knows that's a big ask for total strangers, but it might be Flores' only chance at survival. They are hoping that by creating the Facebook page, they can help spread awareness of and ease fears about being a living donor.

The process that a potential donors have to go through to find out if they would be a match for Flores is relatively simple and painless, Galka explained.

First, potential donors need to fill out a form that is essentially a brief medical history to determine blood type (Flores requires a donor with either type A or type O blood) and that the potential donors don't have any medical conditions that would put them at risk for donating, such as heart disease, past major surgeries, diabetes or a high body mass index, Galka said.

This is not to mean that any potential donors need to be 100 percent completely healthy, Galka said, but doctors must screen for any possibility that could harm a potential donor.

Those forms are then submitted to Flores' medical team at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. If an initial form looks like it could be a potential match Flores, then the potential donor would be given his or her own doctor who would scan the potential donor's liver to make sure it is large enough to have a portion of it donated without causing harm to the donor.

The blood testing and liver scan process takes only a day and is completely covered by Flores' insurance, as is the transplant procedure. That means there are no costs for the donor or potential donor, even if they are rejected or decide to back out, Galka said.

At any point of the process, including up to the time to complete the transplant, the potential donor can back out if he or she decides. Additionally, Flores and his family are not given any information about a potential donor prior to the donor's acceptance to go through the procedure. All of that information is kept confidential by the doctors.

"If [a potential donor] is a match, then they are given time to decide if they would like to proceed or not, and they can back out at any time," Galka said. "Even if they say, yes, they want to go forward, they can still back out at any time, as well. That's their right. It's not like you sign something, and then you're locked in and there's no backing out."

Something else potential donors might not know is that the portion of their liver that they donate will grow back. The liver is the only organ that will regenerate to normal size after surgery, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

"So, it is a huge deal to give the gift, but it's almost like you give this gift and then your liver grows back, and you were able to keep your liver and give someone else the gift of life," Galka said.

Galka said she's been contacted by people through the "Adam Needs A Liver" Facebook page who are interested in finding out if they would be a match for Flores, and both she and Flores are humbled when they are asked.

"Some people who have approached us and said they would be interested, it's just humbling and flooring because I would never directly ask someone to do that, like go up to my friend and say, 'Hey, would you do this?'" she said. "These people have heard our story and are coming up to us and saying, 'I would really like to see if I'm a match,' and it's — even if it's someone I know — it's just really almost like you can't believe somebody would even be willing to try on your behalf."

"It's mind-boggling that someone would be willing to do something so great, and we're very appreciative for everybody who has sent in the form and tried to see if they would be a match, Flores said. "Even just simply spreading the word is amazing enough. Just sharing the page out there has really helped, and it's just as good as getting one person signed up as having 10 more people see it and be able to share. That's really been a boost."

Galka, who is a math professor, and Flores, who is a business analyst, are both well aware that the statistics show that 70 percent of all potential donors will be rejected for one reason or another, but the family remains optimistic and looks forward to the moment when Flores will get the transplant he so desperately needs.

Galka said that if Flores is able to find a match for the transplant, then their children — who have lived their young lives so far only knowing what it's like to have a sick father who is frequently in and out of hospitals — will finally get to grow up with him and eventually forget that their father was ever so ill.

"I hope they're young enough that they forget this, and that it doesn't seem normal to them anymore that they go to bed, and then they wake up in the morning and their dad isn't there because, oh, he's in the hospital," Galka said. "That alone would be amazing."

Those interested in filling out the potential donor form can find it on the "Adam Needs A Liver" Facebook page.

Those interested in learning more about the living liver donation process can find information provided by Northwestern Medicine by following this link.