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SHINE
Winter 2015–2016
There are 17,000
people on the liver
transplant waiting list.
This year, 6,000 people will receive
transplants, but 1,500 will die before
a liver is available.
To learn more about becoming an
organ donor, visit
donatelifetexas.org.
Source: American Liver Foundation
FACT
TRANSPLANT SERVICES
Independence Day
From normalcy
to near death
Parvez Mantry, MD, was
on call that July 4 weekend
at Methodist Dallas
Medical Center.
“I received a call from
a gastroenterologist in
Lubbock who described
a patient with symptoms
of acute permanent liver
failure, one of the most
catastrophic emergencies in
our field,” says the medical
director for research
and liver cancer at The
Liver Institute.
Meanwhile in Lubbock,
Ariel’s family was in shock.
Only a few weeks earlier,
blood tests had shown high
white blood cell counts.
Doctors had tossed around
possible diagnoses but
nothing definitive.
This just didn’t happen
to a 21-year-old girl.
Before her unexpected
sickness, Ariel’s life was
uneventful. She had a full-
time job, a boyfriend (now
fiancé), and a supportive
family. She didn’t drink,
didn’t smoke, didn’t
do drugs. Then Ariel’s
liver took her to a place
of pure misery.
“I had stomach pains
and headaches that wouldn’t
go away, my eyes became
jaundiced, and I started
gaining weight even though
I was barely eating,” Ariel
recalls. “They couldn’t
figure out what was going
on. One doctor told me I
was just an ‘odd case.’”
Then on July 3, Ariel’s
fiancé, Chris Burditt, and
mother, Gloria Casias,
found her unconscious.
Now in a coma and
with her only hope for
survival being a liver
transplant, Ariel was
transported via CareFlite to
Methodist Dallas.
Waiting for
the gift of life
Dr. Mantry and The Liver
Institute team worked
through the night running
tests that would place Ariel
on the liver transplant list.
“Everyone was so
caring and really trying
to do their best for Ariel
and for us,” Gloria says.
“The hardest part was
knowing that someone,
unfortunately, would have
to lose their life so that
Ariel could be blessed
with a new liver.”
That tragic blessing
arrived on July 5, and
transplant surgeon
A new