Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Elijah Jones Bounce Back to New life with Liver Transplant Surgery in India


My name is Elijah Jones after 25 years working in the United States military and a life of almost perfect health, Elijah was diagnosed with cirrhosis. He needed a transplant, but at 60 years old, he knew that the surgery would be hard on him.

“I was in the military for 25 years. I was physically fit for all those years, running four miles every day, even at the age of 60, And all of the sudden I got this little liver problem. I was diagnosed with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, inflammation of the liver which can damage liver cells, leading to cirrhosis. It was also causing my limbs and stomach to fill with fluid. Every weekend, I underwent paracentesis, a procedure during which a physician drains fluid from the belly using a catheter. I was draining five liters of fluid every week. The treatment was very time consuming. And they barely kept up with my symptoms. A lot of the time, I still felt tired and uncomfortable. I felt like I was going nowhere, fast. A friend who had received a transplant told me, you’re just treading water here. Nothing is happening. Get yourself to India and get this thing figured out.’ I wasn’t getting better, and I didn’t want to do the paracentesis for the rest of my life.



In USA, many organ transplant candidates stay at the transplant waiting list for a long time period, going through the risk of death because there aren’t enough deceased donor organs. Living donor liver transplant surgery in India can give hope to patients who need a lifesaving transplant. When I found out I would need a liver transplant, I started searching online and came across India organ transplant  and learned his options and how the transplant process worked. I was happy that through India organ transplant services, we are able to reach out to best liver transplant surgeons in India.

Initially, I was very skeptical about live liver. Liver surgeon in India said that there are a lot of good points to it. The main being that you know essentially exactly where you’re liver is coming from. You know the kind of person it is coming from and you already know the quality beforehand. Also, with a live liver donation, you have got a surgery date. You know when it'll happen, and it is beneficial to plan when you're going via this sort of demanding time. I also found out that with living donation, the donor is typically healthier. Best liver transplant surgeons in India walked me through the process. When I explained the living donor liver transplant process to my family, my brother, Mark, volunteered. Mark was five years younger than me and had the same blood type. We two began the evaluation process including a very thorough medical and psychological evaluation to make sure Mark would be a suitable living donor candidate.

So, not long after my liver transplant surgery in India, when I was healed and able, I started running. I ran because I could. It made me feel alive. As I ran, I felt back to my sickest moments, when I couldn’t move without a person’s help. When I awoke from that surgical treatment, the thing I wanted to do was walk on my own without anyone’s support. When the nurse got here in my room and wanted to see me get off the bed and right into a chair, I happily obliged. Only sitting on the chair wasn’t enough.  I thought to myself, “I am alive.” however even better than that, “I’m living.” what a great feeling!

We are very happy with the results. In between we were sharing our reports with India organ transplant services team member via email, they used to show it to the best liver transplant surgeons in India and give us his replies along with changes of medications and so forth.

Thank You!