Considering what I am asking for, and where I am posting this, I do realize that this may be a long shot, but I must try everything I can.

My mother’s liver is very weak. She has had a liver disease for about a decade now. With frequent checkups to the doctor and medication, she looked and felt as if she didn’t have a liver disease at all, however now my mother is noticeably getting weaker, and her liver continues to get weaker by by the day. 

Over the past couple months her skin and eyes have noticeably turned yellow which is a sign of a very weak liver, she’s retained an excess of water in her stomach which has made it very difficult for her to sleep, she’s been tapped so many times for blood tests she’s starting to form bruises on her arms, she’s had a few nose bleeds that have lasted up to 3 hours, and has had body pains that are simply unbearable for her, just now as I’m reposting this she was mumbling to herself “Why me? Why me? I’ve never been a bad person.” It’s so heartbreaking to hear your mom say that. I’ve been to emergency every one of those times with her, sometimes even spending the night and getting no sleep just to be with her. It just absolutely kills me to see my mother have to endure this kind of pain. It breaks my heart. It cuts right through me like a knife. 

That woman in the picture above has loved me like no other mother can. She’s the strongest, most unselfish person I know, and has made so many sacrifices so that her 4 children can live a great, great life. I just can’t even begin to describe what she has done for her family, and she will never take any credit or reward for it. This is why I am resorting to every possible way I can, including Tumblr, to get my message across.

The only way my mother will be cured, the only way she will get her life back, the only way my family will stop this emotional roller coaster we’ve been on, is to find a liver donor.

Right now, there are a two people in my family who have the same blood type as my mom on the list to be tested for compatibility. However, my mom’s blood type is rare, O-, which makes it that much more hard to find a liver donor. In addition to that, one person may be the same blood type, but there are still other hurdles they have to jump before they are a go to donate to my mother. Already we have had 3 people who were said to be a match by the doctors, but further testing found issues such as the size of the liver, enzyme levels, and potential transferable illnesses that prevented them from being donors. It’s been an emotional roller coaster, and it’s made it clear to me that being able to find a donor is going to be extremely difficult, regardless of how big my family is. 

I got tested, and was truly, truly hoping I would be a match so I could donate in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I’m not suitable to be a donor as I have a different blood type than my mother, so I am really left with no choice but to depend on the generosity of others to donate a piece of their liver and save my mother. 

As I mentioned before, there are people in my family who are currently on the list of potential donors. Many family members have had their blood tested, but do not have the same blood type so they can’t be considered to be put on the list. The hospital has a policy of testing one person on the list at a time, this test is to see if issues such as the size of the liver and enzyme levels exist. As I also mentioned, we’ve had 3 potential donors that were told they were a match already end up not being a match after further testing, so because of this, I want to take every precautionary measure I can and continue to build the list of potential donors for my mother in hopes of finding someone who is 100% compatible and able to donate to save her life as soon as possible.

I’m just really worried, and I don’t want to lose my mother, especially without me trying everything I can do to save her. She’s done so much for me, the least I can do is spread the word and try to find a donor for her.  Unfortunately, my family and I are not allowed to offer a reward or incentive to donate, as it is against the law here to do so, so all we can do is spread the word and hope that people donate out of the goodness of their hearts. 

Which is why I am asking that if you, someone you know, or just absolutely anyone would be willing to donate a piece of your liver to my mother, I honestly cannot put into words how much that would mean to my mother, to my family, and everyone who loves & knows her. Donating a piece of your liver is a serious process, I’m not going to sugarcoat that. However, the operation would be easier for the person donating than it would be for my mother. Whoever ends up being the donor will be expected to make a full recovery after a week, then would have to miss 3-7 weeks afterwards from school/work just for precaution. Your liver would grow back to 100% over time, while my mother’s would grow to 90%, which is a vast improvement from what it is now. I really do not want to force anyone into offering to donate, the fact that you’ve read this message up to this point so far means more to me than you think it does. I’ve tried to spread the message on various social media websites already, not expecting anyone to response, but the response was overwhelming, I was literally tearing up at each one I got whether people were willing to donate, or just being concerned for my mother and keeping her in their prayers. It just means so much. I DO NOT want to force anyone to do this at all, please only do this if you truly want to. If you don’t want to, that is absolutely fine, like I said, the fact that you’re even reading this, on Tumblr, and you most likely do not know me that well, means the world to me. It would truly mean a lot if you just spread the word in any way possible.

If you would like to help out, here are the steps you can go through:

1. Find out your blood type. If you go to your family doctor, or any walk-in clinic, they should be able to do a blood test for you. They will ask why you want one, after that, they should give you a requisition and tell you where to go from there to get it done. Blood tests are free.
2. e-Mail me (If compatible). If your blood type is O+, O-, or A and you are willing to put your name on the list, e-mail me at mike2025@hotmail.com and I will e-mail you back an information package that explains the entire procedure, the operation, the benefits, the risks etc; along with a questionnaire/form that has to be filled out in order to be put on the list at Toronto General for my mother. If your blood type is A however, you would have to go to Toronto General to take another blood test to check the subgroup of your blood. e-Mail me if you have blood type A and are willing to donate, I will fully explain everything to you as I went through the same process.
3. You’re put on the list, and potentially go for testing at Toronto General. After the forms are filled out, and submitted to Toronto General Hospital, you will be put on the list of potential donors for my mother. If the potential donors prior to you are not compatible and you’re next on the list, you will be called by the hospital to have a CT Scan and MRI to be done at Toronto General. The doctors will call you back about a week after to let you know if you are compatible to donate or not. So far my family has not had much luck with this step, which is why the bigger the potential donor list, the better chance we have of surpassing it.

A few requirements prior to the steps above are:

• You must be 16 years of age or older, and under 61 years of age to donate. In Canada where the procedure will be done, you cannot donate if you are under the age of 16.
• If put on the list and called upon, you would have to go to Toronto General Hospital to get the CT scan and MRI done. For this reason, you must live around the GTA, or be able to travel to Toronto. I understand that most of you may not live around Toronto, if you don’t and still want to donate, please do not worry. Just the very thought that you do want to donate, and can’t due to location, means so much. If you can spread the word in any way possible to friends and family, that would be very, very much appreciated.

If you are just curious about the procedure, and want to learn more about it to make it easier for you to decide if you want to donate, e-mail me at mike2025@hotmail.com and I will send you the information package I mentioned above that explains everything about the operation, the benefits and risks associated with it, etc. 

I can’t thank you enough for reading. The responses I have received so far, like I mentioned, are so overwhelming whether people are willing to donate or not. Just the concern for the health of my mother means so much to me, and really comforts me in almost feeling like I’m not alone in this. Please spread the word at the very least to people you know, reblog, retweet, word of mouth, status update, profile pictures, whatever. Even if you spread the word to just ONE person, that person can be the one who saves my mom. Thank you. God Bless.