Priest With 1 To 2 Year Prognosis Waits 9 Months For Liver Transplant As New Haven Hospital Seeks Living Donor

Father Josh Wilbur Seeks Living Donor After Nine Months Waiting For liver transplant

USA: Father Josh Wilbur of Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish in Oxford has spent nine months on the transplant list after falling ill in August 2025 and being told he needs a liver transplant to survive. Doctors warned his life expectancy could be limited to about one to two years without the operation, and the parish priest has since been in and out of the hospital.

The illness has curtailed the energetic ministry Wilbur describes as joyful with a touch of dry humor, forcing him at times to sit or lie in a hospital bed rather than lead services and community work. Repeated admissions and weeks in hospital have interrupted the normal life he once led and tested the parish’s spirit of service.

Wilbur has been working with New Haven Hospital’s transplant team, pursuing a living donor match. Physicians say almost any healthy person can be evaluated to give part of a liver, but nine months into his wait no living donor has stepped forward. The parish and the broader Catholic community are rallying to raise awareness about organ donation and the practical possibility of living-donor liver transplantation.

For now, the central focus is the transplant itself and the hope that a willing donor will emerge. Parishioners emphasize that donation is a profound gift rooted in faith and compassion, and they continue to urge awareness about organ donation as Father Wilbur waits and hopes someone will step forward to give the chance of renewed life.

Video originally published on 2026-04-30 04:00:46