Donating Organs.
I'm now 43 and I've been on my country's (UK) national list of people offering their organs to others when I die. Now that I've had the Hep C diagnosis (although I'm currently being treated with Zepatier), I'm wondering if my organs will be usable now that I have contracted a blood virus.
Organs are pretty rare and some people are on waiting lists for many years so I think it would be a shame if my organs were rejected, especially if in the near future I (hopefully) receive the all clear.
Ooops, there doesn't seem to be an edit option but I forgot to add that I've been on the donors' list since I was 21.
From a USA perspective, Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee were the first hospitals to use Hepatitis C organs in transplantation. They started transplanting Hep C organs in 2017.
In 2019, I became the oldest former single ventricle patient or half a functioning heart patient to receive a Hepatitis C heart from a 29 year old intravenous drug user. I was 46 years old at the time. Since 2017, those hospitals have been transplanting heart, liver, and kidneys, so far that I know of.
Currently, I’m in a three year study trial for Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. I’m two years post transplant and I feel fantastic. I do still have stage two liver fibrosis, which is related to my congenital heart disease.
I had to take Epclusa for three months post transplant and I was told by my heart and liver transplant teams that I’m able to listed on the transplant list again if needed. Hope this information helps. Thank you for sharing. (Leslie, Community Moderator)
