Don’t underestimate the power of the press.
A former Long Island television reporter in desperate need of a life-saving liver donation found a match after a loyal viewer stepped forward to offer to help.
Ex-News 12 reporter Amy McGorry, whose search for a match was covered by her former network and other outlets, discovered the organ donation on Monday while teaching her class at Long Island University.
It sparked a tear-jerking moment with her students.
“I learned the news while teaching my health science class at LIU – last day of class and told kids who have been through this with me and they all clapped,” she told The Post.
“It was so cute.”
McGorry, 56, has long battled two rare diseases – autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) – that have degraded her liver to the point that she needs a donor with O-positive blood.
Her medical emergency reached an ominous stage about six months ago when she passed out and was hospitalized, The Post reported in March.
She was told in February that she needed a new liver because she was suffering dangerous internal bleeding.
The donor wants to remain anonymous leading up to June’s scheduled transplant surgery, but the good Samaritan is a News 12 viewer who watched a segment about McGorry’s health crisis.
The viewer went through a series of tests to confirm he or she would be able to donate the liver, McGorry said.
“They would be giving me a new lease on life,” McGorry said about a potential donor in March.
“I just want to get this done and eventually put all of this behind me and live normally.”
The ex-journalist has also become an advocate for other patients in similar situations.
She traveled to Washington DC in April to push for the Living Donor Protection Act – a bill that would strengthen protections and close gaps that leave organ donors without job-protected leave during recovery.
Read the full article here