Sunday April 21, 2024
Last Sunday morning we were praying for a liver to become available for Chris Hoover. His liver disease was advancing, and a transplant was necessary for survival. Today, one week later, Chris is home from the hospital post-transplant, he is in good spirits, and he is tremendously thankful. What a difference a week makes!

This journey began for Chris 2 years and 4 months ago when his name was added to the liver transplant list. Liver disease runs on his mother’s side of the family. Chris’ uncle died from it. So at age 67, Chris was aware that the clock was ticking. When he was hospitalized the week before last, the doctor told Chris’ wife, Carol, that Chris would likely not make it to Thanksgiving without a transplant.

Last Sunday morning, we requested that our church family pray for Chris to receive a liver. Retrospectively, Carol says, “While there are many facts about this journey, I think the most compelling one is that nine hours after our Sunday school class prayed for Chris, he got a liver. They prayed for four things: 1)They prayed that Chris would get better from the horrible state he was in when he went into the hospital on Friday. 2) They prayed that he would get a liver. 3) They prayed for the donor’s family. 4) And they prayed for his medical team.”

As a pastor, I’ve had many transplant patients in the congregations I’ve served. Most of them have had good results. Churches can participate in the journey simply by saturating the patient and the family in prayer, especially when the church family understands that prayer is offering our passionate petition to God in a spirit of faith and unity and that even our best prayers do not produce a guaranteed result. Prayer is more mystery than calculus. Yet this mystery is one of the ways we intercede and advocate for the needs of others.

Every person’s journey toward a transplant can be challenging. There are multiple doctor’s appointments, changes in schedule, false alarms, and lots of waiting. One Sunday last year, Chris was serving as our streaming tech. I received a call from our Minister of Music, Rick Cobb, who told me that Chris had just been contacted by the hospital notifying him that a liver had become available, and we needed to find a sub for him. However, before Chris left the church campus, he received another call informing him that the anticipated organ was not viable. Such is the life of a transplant patient.

Last Sunday evening around 9 p.m. I received a message from Carol via one of our administrative assistants sharing that a liver had become available and they were planning to begin the transplant in the next few hours. Rick and I both went to the hospital and shared a time of prayer with Chris before his transplant. Before we prayed, I asked Chris if there was anything specific he wanted us to include in the prayer. He said, “Please tell everyone to pray for the donor’s family. Our time of gratitude is their time of grief.”

The transplant began around two o’clock on Monday morning. With the encouragement of the surgeon, family and friends went home to rest. Chris and Carol were prepared for the surgery to last up to 12 hours. Then they expected that Chris would be in ICU for approximately two weeks. However, I received a call from Carol just after 7:30 on Monday morning saying that the surgeon called to say that the transplant was complete and went extremely well and that Chris was being taken to ICU where she could see him later in the morning.

Here is how Carol recounts the events of the weekend: “On Friday a week ago Chris arrived at Piedmont Hospital the sickest he had been. The medical team worked on him for two days to get him in better condition. When a local donor became available, it could only have been received by someone who was already in the hospital. The treatments he had received for two days had him poised to receive that liver. Local organs are preferred exponentially because it doesn’t involve a long time to travel. The surgeon said if he had gotten the liver of a 75-year-old person, that liver would have a grade of C-. And he said Chris could have lived a very healthy life with that C-liver. However, the liver he received had an exceptional grade of A-. We do not know anything about the donor, except that he was local and it was a male and clearly with such a high-grade liver, he was very healthy. Chris did so well, he was off the ventilator before he even left the operating room. He lost a minimal amount of blood in the surgery. And he was in ICU for only 36 hours.”

On Monday afternoon following the transplant, Chris was eating a small amount of broth and Jello. Chris was transferred from ICU to a regular room on Tuesday evening. And then he was discharged to go home on Saturday afternoon.

The journey is not over over. During the next few months of recuperation and adjustment, Chris will be following a prescribed diet and will have very limited visits with his friends. Every transplant patient is aware of the risk of rejection. So our prayers for Chris will continue during his journey to complete healing.

Every transplant story is unique. Chris and Carol are grateful for every prayer and every word of encouragement. And they are thankful for the incredible transplant team at Piedmont Hospital.

This week at Wieuca we are celebrating and giving thanks for the unfolding transplant testimony of Chris Hoover. What a difference a week makes!