ROCHESTER, Minn. — After two previous attempts to donate her liver failed, Stacia Carroll, 47, of Bettendorf, is now an organ donor.
"It was pleasant to get beyond the 4:53 a.m. time," Carroll told News 8's Collin Riviello. That time of day is significant to Carroll because the last time she tried to donate her liver, she got a call from the surgeon cancelling the treatment because the intended recipient had an infection in her bloodstream.
Two days after the surgery, with medical bandages on her neck, Carroll was in good spirits, telling News 8 she felt better than she thought, after having part of her liver removed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
"For me, it's a temporary discomfort to go through this," Carroll said via a Zoom call from her hospital bed. "But I feel pretty darn good. I guess I wasn't expecting to feel as good as I do, two days after the surgery to be up and walking."
Her journey to get to this point was a hectic one.
"This whole process began May 4, 2022," Carroll said in an interview two days before her third attempt at becoming an organ donor.
That's when her family doctor put out a public call for help. He needed a new liver. So, she jumped at the chance to give back to him in the only way the Genesis Health System Benefits & Wellness Coordinator knew: an organ donation.
"You know, one person can't do everything, but I can do something," Carroll said. "And knowing that this individual needs a life saving liver transplant, I can go through the surgery and give that individual a better quality of life and longer life.
But just four days after finishing testing last year at the Mayo Clinic, she got word that her family doctor had passed away.
"It definitely was most disappointing," Carroll said. "I felt most disappointed for the family."
For Carroll, she knew she could have quit right then and there. But she didn't, and she stayed on as a possible organ donor.
Fast forward to this past April and she got a second call for a woman who needed a new liver, and Carroll's liver seemed to have the best compatibility, so she drove the five hours to Rochester, Minnesota to get tested once again.
"There's still very few people that can and will donate life in this way," Carroll said. "So I really felt that it was Dr. Omar's initiation of his need that really prompted me to step forward."
But on the day of the surgery, just 30 minutes before Carroll was to report to the hospital, the surgeon called to cancel the transplant.
"I think we were stunned to receive a call from the surgeon at 30 minutes prior to us needing to report to the hospital for the surgery," Carroll said.
Now having failed at donating her liver to two different recipients, Carroll's options were limited. The tests done on her liver would only be valid for so long before she would have to take time off work and make the drive up north for medical staff to get the most up-to-date results.
"It's been a long year of a lot of emotions, and a lot of physical appointments and testing and things to get to this point," Carroll said. She didn't know if her intended recipient would be able to receive a transplant anymore because of the infection.
But then almost a month later, she got a third call from the Mayo Clinic, telling her the doctors would like to attempt the transplant once more.
"I'm hopeful that the third time is the charm," Carroll said.
Then on Wednesday May 17, Carroll went under anesthesia for about five hours and was several ounces lighter upon waking up.
"I've heard my liver is seeming to be settling in very well in the recipient," Carroll said. "And so it sounds like we're both doing very well."
She doesn't know exactly who is now living with a piece of her liver inside of them, only that it is a woman, but Carroll says she's given the medical staff her contact info to give to the recipient in case that person should want to one day meet.
And Carroll hopes so too because she got that person a gift.
"I had bought a pair of socks that are the notes-to-self socks, but each pair has a different saying or an encouraging word on it," Carroll said. "And I got a pair for the recipient that just says 'I am strong'. And then my mom had found a really cute little rock that has the word 'peace' on it and a little poem that accompanies it. [We're] wanting her to know that we're thinking of her and we want the best recovery and outcome for her as well. And so I was able to give that to one of the transplant nurse coordinators to give to her."