When I was 50 years old I was diagnosed with a rare bile duct disease called Primary Sclerosing Colangitis. This is an auto-immune disease, where the body begins to attack and scar the bile ducts. Eventually, flow of bile from the liver is blocked, leading to cirrhosis and liver failure. My doctor told me there was no cure for P.S.C. and that I would not survive the disease without a liver transplant. I was subsequently placed on the liver transplant list at University of Colorado Hospital.
Over the next few years, as my condition worsened, my family and I watched the awful symptoms of progressive liver failure. They included things like yellow eyes, jaundice of the skin, the collection of fluids in the abdomen, muscle cramps, severe weight loss, and a condition called encephalopathy, where ammonia seeps into the brain, slowing its functions in reaction time, thinking processes, short-term memory loss, and confusion. In the process of liver failure, my pancreas also failed, resulting in Type I Diabetes.
I was on the transplant list for nine years, but was making little progress toward the top of the list. There was little hope of me securing a transplant. In the second half of 2010 I was hospitalized eight different times. By January of 2011, my wife, Donna was having trouble waking me up in the morning. The doctors confirmed that my time was short without a transplant, but I was not even at the top of the list.
In desperation she cried out to God, pleading for Him to spare my life. In response, God seemed to give Donna a calm assurance that everything was going to be all right. The phrase that God impressed on her heart was, “Get ready!” So, she did. That day she cleaned the house, changed the linens, emptied out the refrigerator, and gave me a haircut, stating, “I want you to look nice for the surgeon.”
The next day I got a call from the Transplant Coordinator at University Hospital, asking, “Bruce, would you like to get your new liver today?” She explained that a teenage boy in Kansas City had not survived an accident. According to transplant regulations, organs from a donor under 18 must be offered first to any needy minor recipients. Upon inquiry, there were no minor recipients in the Kansas City area. So, they widened the search area to include Colorado. Children’s Hospital in Aurora responded that they had a two-year old patient who needed a liver. Arrangements were immediately made to get that liver to Denver.
But here is where God worked a miracle. It is not possible to transplant a 16-year-old’s liver into a 2-year-old’s body. It won’t fit. Thus, the doctors at Children’s only needed the smaller left lobe of the liver. That left a viable right lobe available for transplant. Having met the requirement of donation to a minor, the doctors at Children’s called across the street to University Hospital to inquire if there were any small adults needing a liver. It was a perfect fit for me and the surgery took place that night, January 13, 2011. I was out of the hospital in six days with a healthy liver that was already growing inside of me.
Seven months later I had the privilege of performing the marriage ceremony for my daughter and am now enjoying two wonderful grandchildren. We thank God everyday for the miracle He performed in response to a desperate cry.
Bruce Miles
Pastor – Rocky Mountain Bible Church
Frisco, Colorado
