Alfonso's Journey to Receiving a Liver

Alfonso lives in Oregon but was born and raised in California, when he was 15 years old, a sophomore in high school started to feel sick. This feeling didn't get better until one day he was lying on the floor of his bedroom Alfonso was too sick to go to school so his parents rushed him to the emergency department, this is where he was diagnosed with Wilson Genetic Disorder. This disorder is where your body can not digest copper in your liver, so Alfonso's liver was shutting down and he was going to die because it had 15 years worth of copper just sitting there. 

The doctors delivered the news that Alfonso needed a liver transplant ASAP or other organs would start shutting down and he was going to die in a matter of days. At the time liver donations were extremely rare especially if you only had around 72 hours to live. Alfonso was faced with a great amount of morality around death at 15 years old. The day before he was a kid going to school but the next day he was going to die from liver failure. 

A miracle happened overnight and Alfonso was going to get a liver from a downer who had a sinus infection that spread to his brain. After Alfonso's surgery, he was eternally grateful to have gotten a liver because on average 18 people die a day from liver failure and he thought he was going to be one of them. 

As Alfonso's recovery process went smoothly and was feeling back to normal within a couple of months he wanted to reach out and thank the donor family for this bittersweet moment for them both. However, he was not allowed to know who they were per the hospital's policy, all he knew was the basic 22 years of age, male, 99.1% match. 

After a couple of months, Alfonso got a message that his favorite baseball team wanted him to throw the first pitch and celebrate him and his story at the San Francisco Giants game. He was ecstatic to be there and meet all of his favorite players. His story aired on national television during the 3rd inning. 

Now this is crazy but while this story aired on TV he mentioned the basic facts about his donor and how he had passed away, turns out the family of the donor were watching this game. The family soon got in contact with Alfonso and from the start they were extremely close and connected, Alfonso believes that “Spiritual bonds were forged through grieving and second opportunities.”