Shari S.

Months before my October 2005 wedding, a pain in my abdomen advanced so rapidly over a week, it caused me to collapse. My body had shut down; my family was told I’d need a liver transplant to survive. For six weeks, I was in a hospital bed on machines that performed the jobs my organs couldn’t, keeping me alive until an organ was matched. Thanks to the selfless decision of a family, miraculously, I was given a second chance. A rare genetic disease (affecting 1 in 30,000 people) called Wilson’s disease caused my liver failure. My husband and I married as planned and 6 years to the week of my transplant, we welcomed Alexis Nadia, named in honor of my donor. I am forever grateful to my donor, her family, and the transplant team at NYU Langone for taking amazing care of me and giving me two gifts of life!