The Catalyst Issue 22 | September 2015 | Page 8

COMMITMENT | to patients and the future their condition worsens. “It offers a new and often lifesaving opportunity for many patients,” he says. Shortly after waking from the surgery, Mrs. Barcak sensed the benefits of her sister’s gift. “I felt more clearheaded than I had in a long time,” she says. “I didn’t realize I was so foggy before.” The right partnership in place The health system’s relationship brought together the substantial resources and talented clinicians at Baylor Scott & White institutions, and allowed the transplant to happen in a timely manner, Dr. Vincent says. “It exemplifies how we all work together for the benefit of the patient.” Dr. Anthony praised Dr. Vincent for the care she had given Mrs. Barcak over the previous eight years. “The hepatologists are key to keeping the patients as healthy as possible until it’s time for them to come to transplant,” she says. Dr. Vincent continues to see Mrs. Barcak routinely and says she is recovering well. “I’ve really enjoyed taking care of her, and getting to know her family, too,” she says. Mrs. Barcak feels the same about Dr. Vincent. “She’s been awesome,” she says. “She’s really looked after me.” Both sisters are doing well after their surgeries. “Other than the scar down my stomach, I almost forgot we went through this six months ago,” says Mrs. Young. “I feel like I’m back to 100 percent.” Dr. Testa says the Baylor Scott & White transplant team was very moved by Mrs. Young’s devotion to her sister. “You can feel how happy she is that her sister is doing well, and that they can do things that for a long time were not possible,” he says. Back to a normal life after a lifesaving gift Mrs. Barcak never asked her sister to donate part of her liver, but she also knew she couldn’t talk her out of it. “When she sets out to do something, there’s no stopping her,” she says. “It was her wanting to do it, and me finally just accepting it.” Mrs. Young, who teaches art at Rockdale Junior High School, explains Lacy and Lani tell their story. http://youtu.be/fq6tNc1pG4A 8 THE CATALYST September 15 | sw.org why she made the decision. “I put myself in her shoes. I had to look at her kids. They were going to lose a mom if I didn’t do this,” she says. “I had something she needed. I couldn’t keep that from her.” Her sister, meanwhile, is a new person. “Just physically, I couldn’t believe the difference,” Mrs. Young says about her younger sister. “Her eyes are white again. Her skin’s cleared up.” Mrs. Barcak says her vitality, long lost, has returned. “I have more energy than I have had in a long time. I almost have a little too much energy. My husband says I’m running circles around him.” n Baylor Scott & White Health is one of only two Texas hospital systems to offer living donor liver transplants, and the only one in North Texas. “Living donor transplant requires a more advanced expertise than standard liver transplant,” Dr. Anthony says. Such expertise can be found only at hospitals with “a large enough, a stable enough, and a prolific enough transplant program.” Baylor University Medical Center - Dallas surgeons performed their first liver transplant in December 1984, making it only the second hospital in the country to have a liver transplant program at the time. “The living donor liver transplant program is an extension of that high level of quality care in our transplant program,” Dr. Anthony says.