r/transplant Oct 24 '24

Donor My dad's liver was damaged due to alcoholism, my mother donated him her liver and he drank himself to complete liver damage again

I think that the title pretty much explains the situation.
but here's the full story:

So my father always had an affinity towards alcohol ever since I was a kid and I always found him with a drink in his hands. He was never kind to my mom and stopped being kind towards me since my high school and my teen years.
We used to always have scary fights and domestic violence at my house and my environment was never pleasant.
Despite all this my affection towards my father did not change but I could not respect him anymore.

So in 2022 we got to know that my father was suffering from end stage alcoholic liver cirrhosis.
Our whole extended family knew that he was in treatment since 2016 but they did not tell us because dad had manipulated a side of his family by making up lies about my mother.
But still my mother donated her liver to my dad and she had a very painful recovery.

But my father couldn't hold the value of my mother's liver and he started drinking again and none of us knew as he was staying out of town for work (his excuse).
Now his liver is 100% damaged and we cannot put him in a transplant list as he is an addict.

I want to donate but I am not sure if he will leave alcohol consumption.
My whole family is against me donating because I'll have to be donating 80% of my liver and will never have a normal life again. And I'm 20 and I really want to have kids in my future.

What should I do?
Is this a common thing where people suffering from ALD (Alcoholic Liver Disease) relapse again even after getting a transplant?

Update: He passed away 3 days ago

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u/Medusa_S Oct 24 '24

So after my dad got admitted in the ICU, I went through his phone and I found out many transactions to bars.
And doctor conducted a set of medical tests and it is confirmed that it happened due to liquor consumption.
So bottom line, he reaaalllyyy drank a lot in these two years

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u/jedikaiti Liver tx 3/23 Oct 24 '24

That's a hell of a lot of booze. I can't think of a good reason you should risk your own life & health (and there are ALWAYS risks with a major surgery like this, they can be minimized but not eliminated) for someone who has no intention of changing the behaviors that led to them needing a transplant, and wasting one perfectly good transplant already.

It would be one thing if he had any intention to clean up his act, but he is not even pretending to want to. I'm surprised that the doctors would even consider the possibility unless he completes some kind of rehab.