Transplant survivor shares how donation transformed his life
Houston - A young man from Oklahoma gets the rare opportunity to reunite with the doctor in Houston who helped save his life when he was a teenager. Colson McCullough was fighting the same condition that claimed the life of football great Walter Payton several decades ago.
It's a different tale for Colson, who was able to get treatment soon enough. He's doing great and is now a college graduate and busy planning his wedding with the love of his life, Isabelle.
He says none would be possible without life-saving medical care at Texas Children's Hospital.
"One of the reasons that I'm so excited to be here is that I get to say thank you to my hero, Dr. Goss, again, so I'm just so excited that I get to see you again! This is a really unique opportunity because I don't feel like a lot of people get to see their pediatric liver transplant surgeons, so this is just a very exciting honor," says Colson.
His transplant surgeon, Dr. John Goss, is the Medical Director of Transplant Services at Texas Children's Hospital and talks about how meaningful it is for him to meet up with Colson again.
"It's very fulfilling for us to take care of the patients. It's also very humbling to be part of their life story and life experience. Now seeing Colson, who got transplanted as a teenager and is now employed and very successful, is just wonderful to see," says Dr. Goss.
Colson's first signs that something was medically wrong started when he was eight years old with odd aches and pains.
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"It was really pretty hard to diagnose just because I would get stomach aches and headaches and I wasn't really sure what was going on," describes Colson.
He says his parents found a great doctor in Oklahoma City who figured it out and diagnosed him with the rare liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC.
"Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis is basically an autoimmune disease, where you're attacking your bile duct. The bile duct is what drains bile from the liver. The liver makes bile, and the bile duct drains it into your GI tract or your bowels. You need bile to break down fat and absorb certain vitamins, so there's a lot of reason to have bile in your GI tract. Then, without the bile duct, the bile can't drain, and you end up with cirrhosis secondary to the bile backing up your liver, which can lead to end-stage liver disease," explains Dr. Goss.
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Once Colson's condition started worsening, he was transferred to Houston to get his second chance at life through a liver transplant at Texas Children's Hospital.
"This is the biggest pediatric transplant center in America. It's been that way for a decade now," states Dr. Goss. Colson is beyond thankful for his medical team at TCH who successfully pulled off the surgery. He says he'll also be forever grateful for his donor.
Colson now encourages others to consider giving the gift of life.
"I like to think we're going to live forever, but the reality of it is that you can make a difference by being an organ donor and I would just encourage you to consider that today," says Colson. Dr. Goss agrees and wants everyone to be able to get the chance for treatment.
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"Without the donors and the unselfishness of the donor family, at probably the worst time in their life, these kinds of things couldn't happen, so that is very important. The biggest limitations to taking care of patients like Colson, are donor shortages," says Dr. Goss.
Colson is relieved about and thankful for his perfect match and is doing better than ever!
"I feel absolutely excellent, and I think going through one of these things when you're younger gives you a different perspective on getting out of bed every morning and just feeling great," says Colson.
Dr. Goss shares how symptoms often present in patients with PSC.
"You can have it for a number of years before people figure it out. One of the things that it's associated with is a condition called ulcerative colitis, so many times that's how it's picked up. People initially present with diarrhea, some bloody bowel movements, or bloody diarrhea. Many times, people will find ulcerative colitis first, and then this disease is frequently associated with ulcerative colitis. So, then maybe they will have a slightly abnormal alkaline phosphatase or one of the liver lab tests. Then, the diagnosis is confirmed with imaging of the bile duct and a biopsy, which shows a certain very characteristic finding on the biopsy of this fibrotic tissue around the bile ducts," explains Dr. Goss.