Linda (Gebhardt) Korte
Hi, I'm Linda (Gebhardt) Korte. On October 25, 1998, I was nine-years-old.
I'm a very lucky person. I have two birthdays a year! It was on October
25, 1989, that I was a recipient of a new liver! I was 43 at the time.
Two years earlier I was told I had primary biliary cirrhosis. That day, I
was told my only chance to live was to have a liver transplant. This was
something I had hardly heard of. I was told it would be seven or eight
years before I would need the transplant. But, everything went very fast
for me. In two years, I was put on the transplant list. Two months
later, I received my call; there was a liver for me. As I was wheeled
off, I was not afraid as I knew it was all in the hands of God and my
doctors. I was feeling really bad about putting all this worry on my
husband, Rick, and Steve and Sherri, my children. They were the ones who
were going to have to wait the eighteen hours. I was going to be
sleeping. I received the liver of a young man. I thank God every day for
him and his family, who, in a time of great sorrow and pain, gave me
another life. Because of them, I have had nine wonderful years. I have
seen my children get married. I have four wonderful grandchildren,
Linsay, Luke, Anna, and Jaden.
They are the light of my life! I'm able to grow old with my husband.I live a very normal life. I'm able to do everything I ever did. I'm a hairdresser with my own salon. I was back to work full time in six weeks. I have had a few ups and downs. I had rejection three times. Once at ten days, a year and a half, and three years. The first two were major. I was given OKT3 which took care of the first one. The second one, I had double OKT3, but that didn't totally take care of the problem. I was then put on FK506, which was in the experimental state. That did the trick! I have been on FK since then... It has now been approved by the FDA. It is now called Prograf. At three years, I had a slight rejection, which we controlled with more medication. I am one of the really lucky ones. I have not had any side effects from all of the meds. One of the main things needed after a transplant is to have a good mental state of mind. It's also very important to have the love and support of your family. My family has always been there for me, both before and after. You need to be able to talk about what is happening to you. Having a beauty salon, I had plenty of people to talk to and have their support. They said I talked about my new liver like others talked about getting a new car. You also need to be very involved in your treatment. Know what is going on. I have a chart of every blood test I've had. I know when my numbers were going up. By knowing my numbers so well, I know if I need more medication or if I am starting to reject. I don't want any surprises. I think it is very important to be on top of this. When you have looked death in the face, you look at life in a new light. You live each day as if it were your last. You take time to smell the roses and enjoy the rainbows. You know which are the important things in life and which aren't. On my first 'birthday,' my husband gave me a rose for one year of life. Each year he adds a rose. I just recently received nine beautiful roses. I'm looking forward to ten or maybe twenty! That would be very nice. I will take each day knowing it is a day I would not have had if it had not been for that young man. I also believe that everyone who has received a transplant needs to do all they can to promote organ donation. We could make a difference! Once a year, I write pieces for the area newspapers to make people aware. Coming from a person who has had a transplant means more than someone else saying the same thing. I get lots of feedback from this. I also do health fairs and benefits. Another thing I like to do is to wear shirts when I go shopping that say things like "I love my new liver." Someone always asks me about it. We need to make it known that transplants work and there are a lot of us who have had a second chance for life, and we are making the very most of it. So, if you had a transplant, do what you can to make people aware. If you are on the list, have faith your call will come. God has saved us all for a reason. We have a lot to do! |
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