StoryCorps and Intermountain Healtchare partner to share conversations of hope and healing.
When Peter Hammond was in end-stage liver failure and in dire need of a transplant, he was among the first patients in the nation to accept a healthy liver infected with hepatitis C and undergo a high-risk liver transplant. He was later cured of the disease.
Transcript
Peter Hammond: It took about four months to get on the transplant list, while you slowly go downhill. And the catch is, you have to be sick enough to qualify for the transplant, which means that in order to get better, you have to get sicker and sicker and almost get close to death before they'll let you have an organ. Because they're always prioritized to go to the sickest people. So you have to be the sickest person to get an organ.
Jennylyn Hammond: When you would go in for labs every week, we would be glad when your numbers went worse.
Peter: Yeah, when my numbers went worse. And you wait, and you wait.
Jennylyn: What did downhill look like for you?
Peter: Well, ultimately, I lost 80 pounds in less than a year. I couldn't eat much at all. I remember just being nauseous all the time. And part of this is that we heard that a quarter of the people on the list don't even make it.
Jennylyn: Right. What did that feel like?
Peter: I was so committed to doing everything they told me to do.
Jennylyn: Your health kind of became your full-time job. And my part-time job.
Peter: And your almost full-time job too. And luckily, I had you because there were times I just felt so sick I couldn't even get out of bed. Josh and Leah would come lay in bed with us.
Jennylyn: Yeah, and we kind of adjusted things in the family. We tried to do more reading as a family or things that didn't require a lot of physical effort.
Peter: I had no idea when they were going to call me to get my transplant. I had received a bunch of false alarms. They would call me, and they'd say, “You're not the candidate, but be ready just in case the organ doesn't fit the person that it's meant for.” You'd be like second runner up. There were a couple of them where they had me check into the hospital and get all ready.
Jennylyn: Put on a gown.
Peter: And then they were like, “Sorry, it went to the other guy.” And then I'd go home and I'd be like, “Oh, I'm never going to get it.”
Jennylyn: Super disappointed.
Peter: And then the day that I received my transplant, the phone rang, and it sounded like it was going to be another false alarm. And they said, “You're not the intended recipient for this organ, but the doctor's looking at the organ right now and he thinks it might be too big for the intended recipient. And you're the next one in line.” So, we waited. And she said, “We'll call you back if it goes to you.” And all day we waited. It was like 9:30 that night, the phone rang, and she said, “We're not sure it's going to you yet, but it might. Why don't you just come into the hospital and pretend like it's going to go to you.” So, we checked into the room and the nurse comes in and she says, “We still don't know. It might go to the original recipient. But let's just pretend like you're going to get it. Why don't you go take a shower with this special antibacterial soap?”
Right after I got out of the shower, she comes in and she says, “Okay, you're going to get it.” And I said, “That's great, when?” And she said, “We're wheeling you in right now.” My surgery started at midnight. And early the next morning I got my new liver. I remember waking up from that surgery, and immediately I knew something was different. It hurt, but I remember feeling like, “Something is working, and it was definitely going to get better.”
Jennylyn: Wow.
Peter: I could tell. I was actually one of the lucky ones, because I made it out of the hospital within a week. And I was able to go home and continue care at home. You were there for me at a really critical time when I really needed someone, and I really love you for that.
Jennylyn: I love you too, and I'm glad I could be there.