AUSTIN -- Every day an average of 18 people die in the United States waiting for an organ transplant. Right now, doctors say there is simply not enough organs to meet the need.
"In many ways, it's sort of like wartime triage where you have to select the highest likelihood of survival," said Dr. Goran Klintmalm, chairman and chief of the Baylor Regional Transplant Institute in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
Pat Buchta waited two and a half years for a liver transplant. He had Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis -- a genetic liver condition. On March 23, Dr. Klintmalm performed Buchta's six-hour surgery.
"He was one of those patients who would have died very shortly without the liver," said Klintmalm.
The morning after surgery, Buchta's health improved instantly, and his mission to help others became clear.
"A lot of people don't get the chance that I had," said Buchta. "I'm living for two people now. Someone died to give me a chance to live. That's a heavy, heavy responsibility."
Buchta created a group called "Pat's Promise." The goal is to raise awareness about organ donations and encourage others to register and become a donor. Buchta also chronicles his journey in his blog, The Transplant Transcript.
Read more: http://www.kvue.com/news/Special-AssignmentOrgan-transplant-Austin-mans-life-152335875.html
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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