Lindsay man awaiting liver transplant
Two weeks ago, Adam Sweeney’s family didn’t know if he’d live or die.
He’d suffered his 30th esophageal varices, nearly bleeding to death.
Sweeney underwent emergency surgery at Peterborough Regional Health Centre, but it was touch and go.
“The head nurse at the hospital basically told my dad to make peace on the first day,” said Sweeney.
Though he was back to work at John Dewar’s Autosource this week, Sweeney isn’t out of the woods.
The 44-year-old father of two will continue to be at risk until he gets a new liver.
Sweeney suffers from primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). It’s an autoimmune disease that poses multiple complications. The disease tricks the immune system into believing bile ducts are infected, so bile ducts shrivel up, unable to function. Then the liver drowns in bile.
Sweeney said the disease itself is manageable – it’s the complications that could kill him.
Esophageal varices is of one them. The hypertension of the liver causes varices, which are blood vessels in the esophagus that build extra pressure and burst.
“Every time there’s a varices burst, it keeps getting worse and worse. Next time maybe everything will be okay, maybe it won’t,” he said.
Sweeney has been on the list for a liver transplant for a year. He’s among about 225 other Ontarians on that list.
In March, a family friend was considered to be a suitable match and surgery was booked.
It took Sweeney sometime to accept it was really going to happen.
But on the day of the surgery, the doctor deemed the transplant too risky for the donor, so it was cancelled.
“That was hard to deal with,” he said.
Now, Sweeney is waiting once again.
His sisters and a family friend set up a Facebook page providing information on liver transplants and sharing Sweeney’s story in an effort to find a donor.
They share a little-known fact, for example, that the liver is the only part of the body that can regrow after a portion has been removed.
“Isn’t that cool,” Sweeney said, enthusiastically. “It goes back to 100 per cent.”
The Lindsay resident is a familiar face in Peterborough. His 80s band, MIA, used to play at the Montreal House three times a week.
They also played at a benefit for Tim Dalliday, who also suffered from PSC. Dalliday had a liver transplant in 2011 and recovered well.
That gives Sweeney a lot of hope. “Tim runs marathons ... I want to do that,” he said with a chuckle.
Sweeney is currently working part time as the finance service manager at John Dewar’s. When he’s not working, he’s sleeping or spending time with his kids Owen, 14, and Lydia, 8.
To qualify as a donor, citizens must be between 18 to 60 and have a healthy liver. A blood-type match is needed, too. Sweeney is an A positive, so he can accept a liver from someone who has an A or O blood type.
For more information, contact the Liver Donor Program – Multi- Organ Transplant at the Toronto General Hospital at 416-340-4800 ext. 6581 or livingdonorliver@uhn.ca
Sweeney’s Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/ groups/TeamSweeney3