Despite Recent Complications, New Liver A Ãmiracle'

John Gerome

News Staff Writer

Joyce Rodgers, a Mobile woman who received her brother-in-law's liver in February, is recuperating at home from complications.

Mrs. Rodgers, 52, had to return to the University of Alabama at Birmingham in May so surgeons could repair a leak in her bile duct.

Although she's had severe nausea, she said last week that she is starting to feel better and has been doing some light housework. Doctors told her it will be six to eight more weeks before she is fully recovered.

Until the problem with the bile duct, she said she felt wonderful with the new liver.

"I had more energy than I'd had in years," Mrs. Rodgers said. "I worked outside some and did different things that might not seem like much to some people but to me was a big blessing."

Mrs. Rodgers' own liver was damaged by Hepatitis C and sclerosis. Doctors suspect she contracted the disease from blood when she delivered her son, Jason, in 1975.

In February, while she was on the liver transplant waiting list, her 66-year-old brother-in-law, Marlon "Buck" Rodgers, suffered a massive stroke. He was brain dead and on a ventilator.

The family decided that she should have his liver.

Mrs. Rodgers got the organ through a rarely used by-law in the national organ sharing system. Called direct donation, it allows a donor family to designate an organ for someone on the donor list provided it is a compatible match.

Since organs must come from someone who is brain dead - in itself a rare occurrence - seldom does the by-law arise.

Her experience has made Mrs. Rodgers want to let more people know of the need for organs. She plans to speak in the community to persuade more people to donate.

"Everybody needs to trust in God and in miracles," she said. "It was a miracle the way this transplant happened."

This article posted July 6, 2000.

Despite Recent Complications, New Liver A Ãmiracle'

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