Late one evening, Wade Watts received the call he had been waiting for: a donor liver was available. He and his wife, Sara, had to be at the hospital the next morning.
“My transplant coordinator, Anna, called around 7 the night before surgery,” Wade said. “I thought she was calling to change my labwork time, which I thought was odd given it was after her normal working hours. Instead, she told me they had found a match and to be at hospital admissions at 8 a.m. the next day for surgery.
“I immediately had two reactions. The first was I physically froze to the point she had to ask was I okay. She reassured me this is what we’ve been waiting on and what a wonderful thing was about to happen. The second was I had a flood of thoughts about how many people have been praying for this, how me and my family had wanted this for what seemed like forever, and about the donor’s family grieving for the loss of their love one who had left behind a gift to me so that I could continue my life. I will never forget that call and will be forever grateful to have received it.”…