Living Liver Transplant Reignites Patient’s Life

It was an unimaginable gift from Erin Roberts’ brother-in-law that changed her life. “Are you ready to get a new liver?” Henry O’Loughlin asked Erin and her husband, Jake.
Erin was diagnosed with primary biliary cholangitis in 2018 at age 38, a chronic and progressive condition that destroys bile ducts in the liver and can ultimately cause liver failure. By age 41, Erin’s healthy, active, sports-centered lifestyle morphed into extreme fatigue, sickness and pain. “I felt so sick every single day, and I was usually in bed before my kids were,” Erin said.
But Erin’s Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score wasn’t yet high enough to qualify for a deceased liver transplant, even though her quality of life had drastically diminished. That’s when she learned about UC San Diego Health’s “live liver donation program” that gave her newfound hope. Erin’s sister, Shannon O’Loughlin, wasn’t a match for the living liver donation Erin so desperately needed - but it turned out her husband Henry was.
UC San Diego Health’s Center for Transplantation is a national hub of clinical expertise and research and is the region’s leader in transplantation. More than 60 percent of Henry’s liver was removed and transplanted to replace Erin’s liver. The liver has a unique capacity to regenerate, and Henry was up for the challenge.
“I felt like the right person for the job,” Henry said. “It’s an endless well of joy seeing Erin do so well.”
“Just the disbelief that Henry has done this for me - the selflessness of it, I just feel like I have my very own personal superhero,” Erin said.
Learn more about liver transplantation at UC San Diego Health here: health.ucsd.edu/care/transpla...
00:00 - Intro video
00:01 - Symptoms of primary biliary colitis
01:17 - living with end-stage liver disease
01:40 - Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score
02:13 - Transplant program at UC San Diego Health
02:36 - Liver transplant consultation
03:30 - Leader in living liver transplant
03:42 - Living liver donor requirements
04:05 - Finding liver donor match
04:16 - Living liver donor explains inspiration
05:38 - Post-surgery living liver transplant
06:00 - Life after donating liver
06:51 - How much liver was removed from donor
07:29 - Life changed since the transplant
07:43 - Liver recipient explains life after transplant