Organ Donation: The Gift of Life

by Scott Packard | CBS 42, Birmingham, Alabama



BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - He's just 19-years-old but Jeremy Pennington knows what it feels like to face death.

"I had acute liver failure. If I didn't have a liver I would have been dead," he said from his hospital bed, looking fragile.

Monday he got that transplant. It was just in time.

"I was yellow because of the Jaundice. My eyes were yellow," he said with a weak voice.

Last week Jeremy got so sick doctors told him he had just a 10% chance of making it out of the hospital alive if he didn't receive a transplant.

"I am eternally grateful to the family that donated the organ," Pennington continued.

A single decision to be an organ donor can help up to 75 people in need. Across the country more than 110,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant... 3,500 of those are in Alabama.

Doctor Breddan McGuire performed Jeremy's transplant at the University of Alabama Birmingham. He knows the gap between the number of liver donors and those waiting is massive.

"Hopefully it's a great gift for the donor families who sacrifice a lot to do what they have done," Dr. McGuire said.

Jeremy knows that sacrifice. It's a sacrifice that will allow him to one again enjoy the little things in life.

"(I look forward to) being able to pee without a catheter and being able to poop without a bedpan," Pennington said.

Click here for more information on how to become a donor.