A DAUGHTER'S GIFT Tammy Green learned she was sick only after a car wreck some 20 years ago. Routine blood work at the hospital showed her liver enzymes were too high. She was referred to a specialist who told her she had primary biliary cirrhosis, a chronic and progressive liver disease. She would eventually need a liver transplant. As the years passed and her condition worsened, her youngest daughter, Miranda, played the role of caregiver beginning in elementary school - accompanying her mom to doctor visits, keeping track of medications and often getting up in the middle of the night with her. And a few years later, when Tammy moved to Hawaii, where her older daughter lived, to be able to qualify for health insurance and get on the transplant list, Miranda would fly out to take care of her when needed. After three years of waiting, and never reaching the top of the transplant list, Tammy moved back to Texas. Miranda built an apartment for her in her Austin home. By this time, Tammy's condition had deteriorated to the point that she qualified for Medicare. Her doctor recommended University Transplant Center in San Antonio, a partnership between University Health System and The University of Texas Health Science Center. It’s also one of only two programs in Texas and a handful nationwide that offer living liver donor transplants. The liver is unique among organs in that a piece of healthy liver can be taken from one person and given to another, and both halves will regrow to normal size. Still, there are risks, and Tammy had always turned down her family members• offers to donate. "I always said no," she said. But by the summer of 2014, she was too sick to protest. Her son Justin stepped forward to be tested, but wasn't a good match, Miranda asked if she would be eligible. She was a good match. The transplant took place at University Hospital in October. And life began anew for both mother and daughter. Tammy moved into her own apartment. Miranda got married. Her first child followed. And they remain partners in a talent booking agency, providing live music acts for venues in Austin and San Antonio. Tammy had started the business and Miranda had taken it over when her mother became too sick to work. Months later, Tammy struggles to express the gratitude she feels for her daughter's gift: "I wasn't there for her when I should have been, I was so out of it. I am so grateful to this person."
2016 See How We See Annual Report
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