Covenant News

Liver Donor, Recipient Come from the Same Church Body

PALATINE, IL (August 31, 2005) - Two years of prayers for a liver donor to save the life Dave Caspari, a member of DeerGrove Covenant Church, appear to have been answered when another member of his church family was found to be a match.

Donna Michael was tested as a potential donor for Dave Caspari in June and recently was approved. The transplant surgery is scheduled for September 21 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Caspari, a graduate of North Park University and North Park Theological Seminary, was diagnosed eleven years ago with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), the same disease that killed famed Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton.

Donna called Dave and his wife, Amy, with the good news while the Casparis were visiting Dave's father in Colorado.

"It came as a bit of a shock, after almost two years of searching and having six potential donors rejected," Amy says. "It still is hard to believe that it is actually going to happen."

The wait has taken its toll on the family. "It's been hard in the sense that we have to be patient," Amy said in May. "It's been a big rollercoaster."

"Donna and Dave will each have their own surgical team and be in operating rooms that are side by side," Amy says. Each of them will be hospitalized anywhere from three days to a week, depending on the recovery process.

"There is extensive follow up for both for the first month, with appointments almost daily," Amy adds. The longer recovery process for both will be the healing of the incisions, which will be about three months. Dave will be monitored for rejection and adjusting anti-rejection drugs as needed to keep the new liver functional.

Donors give one-half of their liver to be transplanted. Both organs will regenerate within two to four weeks. The liver is the only organ in the body that can regenerate. A living donor is needed, which makes the search more difficult.

Dave first became ill eleven years ago. He was first diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, which often is related to PSC. (Many people with PSC also have Crohn's disease.)

PSC causes inflammation and scarring in the bile ducts inside the liver. As the disease progresses, bile is unable to get through and forms pools which are highly susceptible to infection.

After several years, the reduced flow of bile eventually causes cirrhosis, or hardening of the liver tissue, and causes it to stop functioning. The more immediate danger is cancer of the bile ducts, which is a very aggressive cancer and is considered to be basically untreatable.

The Casparis have mailed monthly updates to family members and friends who regularly pray for them. Dave regularly takes antibiotics because the lack of kidney function inhibits his ability to fight infection - and to make certain he is healthy enough to receive the transplant.

Dave struggles with bouts of fatigue, with some days being better than others, he said. Since a hospital stay in 2003, Dave has stayed at home with his two children, Sarah, three and a half years old, and Benjamin, who is one.

Being at home has at least one advantage, says Dave. It allows him to nap when the kids sleep.

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