DEL.ICIO.USWHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ... THE MAN WHO DONATED HALF OF HIS LIVER
First ‘altruistic’ liver donor lives without regrets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday, December 22, 2008
Eight years ago, then-Atlantan Curt Bludworth donated more than half of his liver to a severely sick stranger living thousands of miles away.
At the time, it was considered, the first “altruistic” liver donation — meaning that it involved two unconnected living people. In fact, the two didn’t meet until after the surgery.
Photo courtesy of Curt Bludworth
Curt Bludworth donated more than half of his liver approximately eight years ago to a stranger who needed a transplant.
The transplant was hailed a success, and the liver recipient, Raymond Muñoz, showed no signs of rejecting the organ. In a tragic twist, Muñoz died a few months later from complications from pneumonia — considered by his doctors unrelated to the organ transplant.
“It was ironic,” said Bludworth at the time of Muñoz’ death. “The liver was the only thing functioning when he died. It was maddening, because the liver transplant was perfect.”
The AJC recently caught up with Bludworth, 41, who now lives in Dallas.
After Muñoz’ death, the donor sunk into a yearlong depression, but today has no regrets.
“It’s always going to be one of the most incredible experiences of my life,” he said in a phone interview. “I miss Ray and still get really sad thinking about what could have been and how hopeful he was. It would be a kick if you could interview him as well, as he was the most important guy in this whole story.”
Bludworth said his liver is fully functioning and grew back to 97 percent of its original size.
He said he tries to focus on the positive memories from the experience such as recalling the joy Muñoz felt immediately after the surgery.
“He said, ‘Look at my hands. The color is back. I can’t believe how good I feel,’ ” Bludworth recalled.
He still marvels how two strangers who only shared Type A blood type could come together in such a dramatic, life-saving way.
Muñoz was a 53-year-old Mexican-American, working-class father of two, a Democrat, living in a simple home in Los Angeles. He contracted hepatitis C while getting a tattoo from friends.
Bludworth was a white, openly gay, well-off Atlantan, Republican with a retro Harley-Davidson motorcycle and Mercedes-Benz parked at his loft apartment garage.
Bludworth, who calls himself an “unapologetic supporter of President Bush,” is now a vice president in the human resources department with a division of Hewlett-Packard.
He said he loves his job and enjoys going to restaurants, sipping red zinfandel and reading his three favorite magazines — Popular Science, Popular Mechanics and Car & Driver.
“I guess I am sort of a nerd, because I love all things science and gadget-related. My close friends just shake their heads,” he said.
It was his interest in science that put him on the path of donating his liver.
In 1999, Bludworth was reading a newspaper on an airplane when a story about a mother donating part of her liver to her sick baby struck a powerful note.
Donating part of a liver while alive is possible because the liver — the only organ that regenerates — grows back in both the donor and recipient.
“I was fascinated by the science of the story and the humanity of it, too,” he said.
Bludworth couldn’t stop thinking about it. At first, he envisioned donating his liver to a child, but later allowed doctors to give it to whomever needed the most.
Although it was widely reported that Bludworth was the first living donor to give part of his liver to a stranger, the government’s database — maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing — suggests Bludworth was the second, taking place less than a year after the first one was performed at the Hume-Lee Transplant Center at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals.
Still, Bludworth is part of an elite group — 27 in all — of living Americans who’ve donated livers to people they don’t know.
Most liver donors make a full recovery, and the risk of dying is less than 1 percent, according to Dr. Robert Fisher of the Hume-Lee Transplant Center’s liver transplant program. Still, it’s a sacrifice on many levels.
“If you think of the extremely altruistic, maybe you think of Abraham Lincoln or Jesus,” he said. “You could say these altruistic donors are of the same make.”
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