Celebrity encounters -- Dr. Thomas E. Starzl

[jawjahboy]

Thomas E. Starzl, MD performed the first successful liver transplant on a human. I met Dr. Starzl at Children's Hosp, in Pittsburg, Pa. on Dec. 10, 1985 right after his team had completed my daughter's first liver transplant. He was the most down-to-earth and easy-to-talk-to doctor I have known.
We saw him about once a week until we took our daughter home to Griffin, Ga in Feb, 1986; and then on other occasions when we visited
Pittsburg.
At the time we met him, his teams had performed over 400 of the 800 liver transplants done world wide. His clinical notes and publications are the most cited of any other scientist.
Interesting facts about Dr. Starzl:
He did not type. All of his works and notes were hand written and transcribed by assistants. He followed many of his patient's condition for years after they had moved on, even after his retirement. He checked on my daughter's condition after her 2nd transplant at Emory Univ. Hosp in Atlanta (Mar 17, 1995).
He sent her a copy of his memoirs with a personal note before it was released to the public in 1992.
It was a great honor to have met and interacted with such a great man.

[tonebytone]

Lordy, Tom. Your daughter - I hope that her latest liver transplant did the trick. I never knew you had a daughter.

You've certainly led an interesting live! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

[jawjahboy]

(10-15-2019 05:13 PM)tonebytone Wrote:  Lordy, Tom. Your daughter - I hope that her latest liver transplant did the trick. I never knew you had a daughter.

You've certainly led an interesting live! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Flo,
It was quite an adventure with all the bleeds, transfusions, procedures to stem bleeding, biopsies, ambulance trips and life flights. Then with the first liver, the follow up surgeries, medications and maintenance decisions.
Her second transplant went much smoother but still had a few set backs. It's been 24 1/2 years and she is the healthy mother of my 15 year old grandson and a nurse who works with mothers and newborns.