Liver Transplant Candidate Seeks Urgent Living Donor After VA Disclosure Failure Leaves Low MELD Ranking

Veteran With End-Stage Cirrhosis Seeks Living Donor For Urgent liver transplant

USA: A veteran with irreversible cirrhosis is urgently seeking a living liver donor to undergo a transplant after learning his liver will not regenerate. He says he previously had hepatitis that the VA reported as cured, but the damage to his liver remains, leaving transplantation as the only viable long-term option.

Once facing a MELD score in the high 30s—levels that indicate need for a transplant within weeks—the patient fought for and maintained sobriety and intensive medical care, bringing his MELD into the single digits and low teens. That improvement, while life-affirming, has paradoxically dropped his priority for a deceased-donor liver because current allocation favors higher MELD scores.

Because deceased donor procurement is unlikely to reach him except in extreme circumstances, a living donor liver transplant represents the clearest path to timely life-saving surgery. He reports sustained recovery efforts and improved health metrics but still requires a compatible living donor to move forward with transplantation.

The man is actively seeking a living donor and appealing to his community and transplant centers for help. His case highlights the growing role of living donation in liver transplantation, particularly for patients whose recovery lowers allocation priority even as their underlying organ failure persists.

Video originally published on 2026-04-27 01:03:39