Our Living Liver Donor Program Saves Lives

Your application to our Living Donor Program is more than paperwork. It's a turning point in your story, the first step toward saving a life. It's also our donor team’s window into your medical history and the first step toward determining your eligibility.

Before we move your application forward, our team will review your application to make sure you meet the following transplant donor qualifications:

• Willingness to donate
• 18 years or older
• Good physical health (free of diabetes, heart disease, cancer or other chronic conditions)

As we review your application, our goal is to make sure you don’t have any conditions that could put you at risk for surgical or long-term complications.

Not everyone who wants to become a living donor will be the right match for their recipient. Matching of living-donor livers with recipients is based on age, blood type, organ size and other factors. Because our patient’s privacy and safety are always our priority, all testing is completely confidential.

Our Personalized Evaluation

Your health and well-being are our priority. Our confidential evaluation process is designed to make sure you have a positive donor experience from evaluation through recovery. As a potential living donor candidate, the cost of your donor evaluation process is completely covered.

Lab and Diagnostic Testing

Our donor team will guide you and your caregivers through the following tests, including:

• Blood tests
• Liver imaging
• Cardiac evaluation

Meeting Your Living Donor Team

We believe that the more you know about the living donor process, the more positive your experience will be. That’s why our team is here to teach, guide and empower you. Our patients and their caregivers often say their transplant team becomes like a second family. So, it’s only natural that the first step is getting to know each specialist on your donor transplant team.

Your dedicated health team stays closely connected throughout your evaluation through close communication and innovative technology.

• Your Social Worker is here to support you and make sure you’re mentally and emotionally prepared for the journey ahead. They'll discuss your decision to donate and connect you with any necessary resources.
• Your Living Donor Advocate will walk you through what to expect throughout the process, from medical testing to life after living donation.
• Your Donor Hepatologist and Donor Surgeon will each evaluate you to make sure you’re a good candidate for donor surgery.

Patient Review Committee

Once you've gotten to know everyone on your transplant team and your test results have been processed, our donor team will review your case from beginning to end. If the team is confident that you're a good candidate for living liver donation, your surgery can be scheduled.

Multiple Listings

You have every right to be initially seen by different transplant centers. But let us know if another center has already evaluated you so we can avoid duplicate testing and move the process along faster. Remember that each center evaluates and accepts patients based on their own criteria; being listed at one center doesn't guarantee that every center will accept you.

Life After Donation

For living donors, the road to recovery is typically swift. Most donors spend a few days in the hospital. You'll leave armed with detailed instructions, pain medications and a list of phone numbers to contact for any questions or emergencies. You'll likely be able to return to your normal everyday activities after four to six weeks. And while you may bear a small scar from your surgery, you can wear it with pride, knowing you helped save a life.

Staying Connected

We're part of your story, and you’re part of ours. In addition to your regularly scheduled donor follow-up visits to our AdventHealth Transplant Institute, we keep our team-patient connections strong through annual events.