Area woman gives her mother the gift of life

By Jean Shanley

09/29/07 September 28, 2007 11:04 pm

— SPRINGBORO — When Beth Ann Miko tells her mother a piece of her will always be with her, she means it — literally.
She gave her mother, Debbie Meyer, 54, new life on March 7, 2006, when Beth Ann donated part of her liver to her mother, a donation that saved her life.
Today both are doing well.
Before the transplant, Debbie was critically ill with end-stage liver disease from primary biliary cirrhosis. She had been getting progressively worse over the last 14 years, with the condition even causing her to experience early menopause in her late 30s.
As the disease progressed, she developed jaundice.
Early last year she started to get very ill and was told by her physician in Pittsburgh that she would be placed on a liver transplant waiting list.
That’s when Beth Ann, 36, stepped in.
Beth Ann works at a surgical center in Erie and had heard about live liver transplants, so she decided to pursue the idea of donating part of her liver to save her mother’s life. Beth Ann explains that the transplant is possible because the liver is the only internal organ that can rejuvenate itself.
Her mother told her she didn’t have to do that. But Beth Ann said, “I have to, Mom. I’m not ready to let go of you.”
After much testing, it was determined that Beth was a 99.9 percent match and was very healthy, so she was definitely an eligible donor.
Three weeks later, the operation was performed at Montefoire Hospital in Pittsburgh, and Debbie received 60 percent of her daughter’s liver.
The surgeries to remove the liver and then transplant it took half a day and were not easy, both mother and daughter agreed. Debbie’s liver was completely removed. Although the surgeries were at the same time, they were in separate surgical rooms with different surgical teams.
In fact, they smile now when they remember that Beth Ann told her mother when recuperating from the surgery, “Mom, I love you with all my heart, but I won’t donate any more of my parts to you.”
Beth Ann quickly adds now, though, that she just thought she’d heal faster. She was able to return to work on June 3, 2006.
“She was awesome; she was so brave,” Debbie says of her daughter.
Both mother and daughter are doing very well now. Beth Ann’s liver has rejuvenated itself, doctors have told her, and today she is doing fine.
Debbie still takes anti-rejection medication. The healing process takes a long time, Debbie said, but she’s grateful for her new lease on life and especially to the physicians and staff at Montefoire.
Along with the liver, Debbie says she has developed some of Beth Ann’s habits, and Beth Ann agrees: “She acts like me!” Among the changes are eating foods that Beth Ann enjoys, such as brussell sprouts, that Debbie now likes for the first time in her life.
Debbie said she is more active now than she has been for quite some time thanks to more energy because of her healthier liver.
“The liver is a filter and since it was failing, there was no filtration,” she said.
Beth Ann is back to her normal, active lifestyle. She and her daughter are taking classes to become EMTs, and Beth Ann volunteers for the fire department.
Although she has no more plans to donate organs while she is alive, Beth Ann has always been listed as an organ donor because she believes so strongly about what that effort can mean to others.
And her mother is living proof of how an organ donation can change someone’s life.

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