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Buck and Bruce

January 9, 2017
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Bruce’s health began to go downhill late 2012.  He had had a dull nagging pain in his belly for years, but didn’t think much of it.  Little did he know, he was gradually developing liver disease.  As a proud father of 3, his wife Cathy and him thought it would be a good idea to get checked out, just to be safe.  They found out that Bruce was too far along to be treated with medication, and in 2015 Bruce was placed on the wait list to receive a liver transplant.   The possibility of Bruce getting a liver was very slim, as the waiting list is very long, and Bruce was often too sick to be able to survive the surgery. 
Bruce’s nephew, Buck had heard another story about living donation in Grayson County, and thought he would get tested to see if he was a match.  “You take care of family” said Buck, “if I could help him, I wanted to”.  Soon they found out that Buck was a match!  With the support of the whole Meredith clan, Bruce and Buck traveled to Rochester Minnesota for the transplant.
66% of Buck’s liver was gifted to Bruce.  A short 3 months after surgery, both livers had grown back to 100%.  “Recovery wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be”, explains Buck “I was only off work for 6 weeks!”
Today both men are doing great! Bruce is able to spend more time with his 3 grandchildren and Buck is enjoying being a positive role model for his son.  Because someone shared their story, Bruce’s life was saved.  Register to be an organ and tissue donor today!