Before my daughter’s transplant, I wouldn’t even allow myself to plan her first birthday party because I didn’t know if she would be alive. 

When Katelyn was born, we thought she was perfectly healthy. She was jaundiced, but we were like, “They’ll just put her under the light and she’ll be fine.” Then the doctors started talking, and that’s when everything started going really fast. It’s been a long road. 

Katelyn was diagnosed with biliary atresia1. There’s no cure, but the Kasai procedure2 can usually alleviate the problem. 

In Katelyn’s case, it didn’t work. Her belly was filling up with fluid, and her skin was just getting yellower and yellower. A liver transplant at Cleveland Clinic was her only option. 

In June 2019, we got “the call.” Katelyn had been matched with a living donor. Surgery was rough, but Katelyn has been mostly healthy ever since. 

We later met her donor, Joe Gilvary3. He’s a wonderful man. He gave us the best gift we’ll ever get. We get to watch Katelyn grow up. 

 

Katelyn Kutscher will celebrate her third birthday in December 2021.

Joe Gilvary and Katelyn Kutscher

Joe Gilvary and Katelyn Kutscher. | Photo: Cleveland Clinic

Notes

  1. A condition in newborns in which bile is blocked from moving from the liver to the small intestine.
  2. A procedure in which a surgeon replaces damaged bile ducts from outside the liver with a piece of the patient’s small intestine.
  3. Gilvary is a two-time living organ donor, having previously donated a kidney to a different patient.

An organ donor who keeps on giving meets the baby girl whose life he saved.