Two ASCP Patient Champions Share How the Laboratory and a Liver Transplant Brought Them Together

Fate brought the lives of Laurel and Claudette together nearly a decade ago. Laurel had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, which she acquired through her work as a nurse. She gradually became sicker and sicker while awaiting a new liver.

Far away, in Turks and Caicos, Claudette, also a nurse, had tragically just lost her 18-year-old son, AJ. She donated her son’s organs, of which seven were viable, to health systems in the United States, a place where AJ had always wanted to live. Laurel was the recipient of AJ’s liver. After her transplant surgery, she wrote an letter of gratitude, which was anonymously forwarded to AJ’s mother through the hospital. After many anonymous letters were exchanged between the two, the hospital facilitated an introduction of both women, and they have stayed in touch ever since.

Today, Laurel is healthy and has become an ASCP Patient Champion so that she can encourage other patients to learn how to advocate for themselves and become aware of the role that the laboratory plays in the diagnoses and treatment of disease. It has been her way of paying forward the gift of life that she received.

We honor these women as we approach July 28—World Hepatitis Day, which helps raise awareness and promote understanding of viral hepatitis, a disease that kills an estimated 1.4 million people around the world each year.

You can learn more about Laurel’s and Claudette’s stories, and how you can join the ASCP Patient Champions advisory board by clicking here.