Amy Baghdadi was living a perfectly normal life – working as a lawyer and raising two young kids with her husband in San Francisco. While she was training for a half-marathon, her side would ache after long runs. 她以为只是肌肉拉伤, but one evening the pain was so excruciating that her husband convinced her to go to the emergency room. An ultrasound revealed that her liver was full of tumors, which were quickly diagnosed as cancer.
癌症患者收到了一生难得的礼物
After an aggressive chemotherapy regimen failed, Baghdadi was running out of treatment options. 肝脏移植是可能的, but most medical centers don't consider cancer patients for transplants.
随着时间的流逝,她的癌症可能正在扩散. 约翰·罗伯茨博士. Nancy 亚瑟, a UCSF husband-and-wife transplant team, performed a 活体供肝移植 在巴格达迪. 移植手术很成功. 巴格达迪和她的捐赠者, 奥利维亚Lemen, 已经完全康复, 这次经历在他们之间建立了一种持久的纽带.
为什么其他十大赌博平台排行榜拒绝了你的移植手术?
I think because my cancer was very aggressive and I had some nodules in my lungs that may or may not be cancerous – we still don't really know. 如果癌症已经转移, 人们通常不适合移植, so there was a lot of concern that my cancer had already spread and therefore I wasn't a viable candidate. 风险太大了.
你以前对肝移植了解多少?
在我生病之前, I knew very little about the process of organ donation other than filling out the form at the DMV. 我不知道肝脏可以再生, 活体捐献者可以给你一部分肝脏, and that their liver can grow back and the transplant liver will grow to full size within the recipient.
见见艾米的护理团队
为什么加州大学旧金山分校愿意给你做移植手术?
我和史密斯博士进行了一次有趣的谈话. 罗伯茨谈到了手术和成功的可能性. 其中一个问题是, 当然, was that someone in my situation has the potential for recurrence of cancer; you don't want to waste a good organ on a person who is just going to get the cancer again. Dr. 罗伯茨对我说, “即使我们只能给你买五年, we are giving you five more years when advances in medical science are so great that, 谁知道, 我们可以找到解药." It was incredibly heartwarming that he would take that risk on me and give me that time.
移植手术后的一年里, they have found the genetic markers that they believe is the cause of the very rare type of cancer that I have, 找到治愈方法的第一步是什么. 如果我的癌症复发了, 希望它不会发生, 有可能到那个时候, 我会在一个更好的地方.
你是怎么找到活体捐献者的?
It was a real struggle to contemplate asking loved ones to potentially put their own lives at risk to save mine.
我差不多每周都会写一封电子邮件, 解释我的情况和治疗的进展. Everyone knew at that point that I was looking at transplants. So I wrote in an email that a living donor was a possibility for me and sort of tongue-in-cheek said, “如果你是0型, 年龄在55岁以下, 你很健康, 你想要切除一半的肝脏, 想想看." Crying copiously over my keyboard I thought, "How can I do this?" It was really hard but if I don't send it, I'm going to die. 我看着我的孩子们,我至少要试一试. 点击发送.
你收到了多少封回复邮件?
We were overwhelmed at the responses we got from people who said they would do it or wished they could do it. 我想我们有八个人问过申请包的事, 成为捐赠者的第一步是什么.
你被他的慷慨打动了吗?
Absolutely; it was unbelievable. It was really hard to think about any of the people who stepped forward going into surgery and putting their life at risk. But I was also so incredibly grateful and felt proud to know these amazing people who would step up to help someone in such an unselfish way. It made me feel very blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.
奥利维亚是怎么成为你的捐赠者的?
When Olivia heard about my situation and we talked, something clicked. 这绝对是命中注定的. 奥利维亚符合所有十大赌博靠谱网络平台,她很健康, 她比我高, 她很年轻,各方面都很完美. Plus, knowing her as a person, I knew that this is someone I could do this with. You can't say that about everybody because it is such an emotional process. 你必须离得非常近. 我觉得那是我马上就感觉对的事情.
你怎么认识奥利维亚的?
My mother is a retired public school teacher and so is Olivia's mother. 他们一起在圣罗莎教书超过25年.
描述一下手术当天的情况.
我们在十大赌博平台排行榜住了一晚, got up very early in the morning and were taken to be prepped for surgery. In the prep room I could hear Olivia's voice on the other side of the curtain, 所以我们问能不能拉开窗帘. 他们给我们俩做准备时,我们手拉着手.
I went down first – we knew it was going to be about a 12-hour procedure for me, 对她来说稍微少一点, 我会开始. 也, no one knew if we were actually going to go through with the transplant until they had opened me up and determined the cancer hadn't spread.
We joke that our families had it the hardest on that day because they were the ones sitting in the waiting room for 12 hours, 等待消息. 第一个, 等着听这事会不会发生, and then that each of us were coming out and it was successful.
从一开始就是好消息. 一切都很顺利.
手术后你第一次见到奥利维亚是什么时候?
我只在重症监护室待了大约24小时. Then I was taken to my room, which was two doors down from Olivia's. They told me it was important to get up and walk as soon as possible, 所以我的第一步就是去她的房间看看她怎么样了.
我醒来的第一个念头是:“我希望她没事。. 求你别让她出什么事." I had my issues, but as long as she was going to be OK, it was all right. 所以我得去看看她,确保她没事,她确实. 她看起来很棒.
手术后你都在想些什么?
Obviously it was a big surgery and I knew that it would be a long, 愈合缓慢, but it was a healing process through which I would eventually be better. 我又要好起来了. 所以我把每一天都看作是一份礼物.
你现在感觉怎么样?
手术后,我感觉从未有过的好. 这对我来说每天都是一个奇迹.
My perspective on life and everything in it changed dramatically. I don't think you can go through an experience like this and go back to life as usual. It really helped me see what is important in life and I know that being with my family and my loved ones is everything. 我很感激能来到这里.
你在加州大学旧金山分校的经历如何?
住在这里,我一直都知道加州大学旧金山分校的工作非常出色. 但带着这种罕见的疾病经历了整个系统, 需要如此戏剧性的治疗和护理, I gained an appreciation for the talent and dedication of the people who work there. All these people are giving so much of themselves to save other people's lives, to make a difference.
Can you explain the relationship that developed between you and Olivia after the transplant?
奥利维亚和我说我们是“肝脏姐妹”.“这很有趣,但却是真的——我们真的觉得我们是一家人. 我身上有她的一部分. 化疗后我的头发又长回来了一点卷, 她喜欢开玩笑说那不是化疗的原因, 是她把我的头发卷起来的.
我们一直保持联系. 我不知道还能怎么解释, 但我确实觉得她是我的一部分, 不仅仅是字面上, but in that she is somebody I can't imagine not having in my life.