Karin Staub-Leigh - A success Story
From a talk given at the Royal Free Hospital
The Queen in her Christmas speech in 1992 spoke about her Annus horribilis. Last year I had mine. I nearly died in Hospital whilst waiting for a liver transplant.

In summer 1995 I had been diagnosed with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, an incurable liver disease. The cause of the disease is unknown, but it is generally thought to be an autoimmune disease. Despite what many people think, it is not caused by drinking alcohol. PBC is a progressive disease that leads to cirrhosis and liver failure.

This diagnosis had been confirmed in October 1995 here in this Hospital. One of the doctors said I had 5 - 10 years to live whilst another had previously estimated up to 15. The only cure would be a liver Transplant. Although I had asked the question of life expectancy, it found it very difficult to deal with the answer. Dying was not something I had ever thought about. - I suppose nobody ever does unless directly confronted with it.

READ KARIN'S FULL STORY HERE>>>>

Andy's Story - IT HAPPENED SO FAST!
My story starts in the summer of 2004; I had contracted tonsillitis for which my GP prescribed antibiotics. This cleared up and then I immediately developed an inner-ear infection. Again antibiotics were prescribed and the condition cleared up.

However the day after completing the antibiotic course everything changed, I woke up feeling unwell and the yellow-faced apparition staring back at me from the mirror was scary in the extreme. My wife was as shocked as I was and so it was back to the GP, the subsequent blood tests showed poor liver function. The second set of blood tests showed a slight improvement, but by then I was losing weight rapidly and feeling more tired than I ever thought possible. The only amusing side to this was my children said I looked like Homer Simpson!

I was referred to my local hospital in Taunton, Somerset where I had the good fortune of being referred to an amazing consultant. It was late in August and my body was filling up with fluid. The afternoons were the worst part of the day, my legs took on elephantine proportions, and it was extremely uncomfortable.
Despite this, I forced myself to keep going and carried on working, my consultant offered me a hospital bed while he awaited all his test results, I chose to keep going.

READ ANDY'S FULL STORY HERE>>>>

Frank's Story - "is there a television in this room"
Hi everyone, My name is Frank Callender and I live in a little town in Texas about fifty miles Northwest of Austin. Austin is the capitol of Texas. In 2002 I was diagnosed with End Stage Liver Disease and placed on the Liver transplant list. The doctor I had had tried to treat me with interferon and it was not successful in arresting the disease. The failure of my liver was brought about by getting infected with hepatitis B and it mutated to another strain labeled D. Now I believe the only treatment for this dual infection is transplant.

The first indication that I was aware of came when I was riding my bicycle near my home. There is a pretty steep hill by my house that I had to climb to get back. While I was pedaling up the hill fatigue overcame me and I had to get off the bike. It was All I could do to push the bike up the hill. Then a few days later I was trimming a oak tree by my house and was overcome again by fatigue. Both of these activities are things I did on a daily basis prior to this with no problem at all.

READ FRANK'S FULL STORY HERE>>>>