Agencies-Gaza post
Former English ball star looking for a second chance at life from liver donor
Former England football star Kieron Dyer speaks of appreciation for something that hasn’t happened yet because he knows that his chance of a new life depends on someone else’s death.
Dyer knows that the second part of his life will be born with grief and mourning for someone else’s family and friends, and it matters most that if he gets the liver transplant he needs, he honors the memory of the person who saved him.
Dyer is 43, and 20 years ago, he was playing for England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup against Brazil, but last year, medical tests revealed that he suffered a rare condition that damaged his liver, and he needed a new liver transplant.
Dyer, who is on a liver donor waiting list for six months, said, “If I don’t have the transplant, my liver will be very damaged, and there will be nothing they can do for me.”
Mel Sport reports that his life is now about waiting for a phone call from the team of donors at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, telling him that the right liver is available. He can never travel more than two hours from the hospital, his mobile phone must be with him at all times, and his ambitions to become a senior trainer are on hold, but he knows everything is secondary to getting a new opportunity in life.
“Sometimes there are people waiting for transplants, and they only have weeks to live, and I’m increasingly tired, but I’m not in the category of very urgent cases, so I might have to wait a few more months for my liver to really deteriorate before calling me, and there aren’t enough liver donors,” Dyer said.
He added, “I’m just grateful that they found out what was wrong with me, and I realize that I rely on someone else’s misfortune which gives me the opportunity to live a long and happy life, and my biggest hope is to be proud of who I get his liver, they encourage you to communicate with the donor family after the operation, and that’s something I absolutely intend to do.”
He continued, “I think it would give me some comfort if I was in the position of a family who lost one of their members or lost someone they loved, but through their generosity, they gave someone else a chance for long life”.
“I hope to earn their legacy, I don’t want to fail that, and I know how precious a second chance it will be.”
