It wasn’t until after his liver transplant that Felix Pon’s personality began to shine. His rare liver disease left him bright yellow, itchy, depleted, and hardly able to smile. He’s making up for it today by greeting everyone he meets with a wide grin and a happy hello.
“It was like a veil was lifted after his liver transplant. His good-natured, friendly personality came out,” says his mom, Katie Gilmer Pon. Read the full story from Stanford Medicine.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, around 8,096 liver transplants took place in 2020 alone, with 11,772 candidates awaiting transplantation at the end of 2020. Liver transplants traditionally come from deceased donors. Centers prioritize transplants and allocate these livers to individuals based on their level of sickness.
On the other hand, a living donor liver transplant is partial liver transplantation. It can be an alternative to waiting for a deceased donor until the liver disease becomes too severe to require a full organ transplant. Read more in Medical News Today.