Forsyth County deputy, Army veteran has successful liver transplant, sheriff says
A Forsyth County deputy had a successful liver transplant Wednesday after catching a disease that causes liver failure while deployed to Afghanistan with the Army, authorities said.
Detective Drue Green, 35, came in contact with "something that caused" primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), while in Afghanistan with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, according to a GoFundMe page.
The page said doctors are unsure how he contracted the rare disease, but he could have contracted it from from food, water or the air while overseas.
Since being diagnosed with the disease in 2010, he and his wife, Kristen, have been searching for a donor. After years of searching and relocating his family closer to Piedmont Hospital, Sheriff Ron Freeman posted on Facebook that he had heard the "best news of the year" Tuesday — a matching transplant became available.
Following surgery, Freeman announced Wednesday he had “a new best news of the year” when Green’s transplant was successful. Green remains in the hospital recovering, and his wife said doctors were pleased with the surgery’s outcome.
As of Thursday night, the GoFundMe page has raised more than $6,400, which will pay off medical bills that insurance doesn’t cover. Any additional money raised will be donated to a charity to assist veterans, the page said.
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Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
