Jacob Porter is joined in the hospital by his parents, Donald and Elaine, following his liver transplant.
HIGHLAND — when Jacob Porter got sick on a Highland High School French Club trip to Montreal in late 2007, everyone assumed a tilapia dinner was responsible.little did he know that he had begun a three-year ordeal that would be marked with frequent stops at the emergency room, eventually culminate in a life-saving operation in which his liver would be replaced by a 54-year-old West Virginia woman’s, and leave his parents with an estimated $115,000 in unpaid medical bills.when Porter, then a junior, returned home to Highland in 2007, his symptoms lingered. he recalled thinking he had a nasty cold or the flu — that is until jaundice set in.Local doctors thought he might have mononucleosis, and in early 2008, Porter, now 19 years old, was sent to Westchester Medical Center for a liver biopsy.Westchester doctors then consulted with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center experts. the new diagnosis was more serious than the “kissing disease” — doctors determined he had autoimmune hepatitis and sclerosing cholangitis.Porter’s father, Donald, explained the autoimmune disease, to which he later learned his son was genetically predisposed because a relative has an autoimmune skin condition, resulted in his immune system attacking his liver cells — mistaking them for harmful invaders — and the sclerosing cholangitis condition entails swelling, scarring, and destruction of liver bile ducts.Westchester doctors initially thought Porter would need a liver transplant quickly, but Pittsburgh doctors said the timeline could range from five years to never. Porter began taking steroid medication for the autoimmune disease and said he began to feel better.By the end of his senior year, “I was almost completely healthy and thought I was in remission,” said Porter, who then went on to study engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and had a relatively healthy freshman year until he caught a sinus infection in the spring semester.at that point, he and his family recalled, Porter’s autoimmune disease gained momentum, and his health quickly deteriorated. he began to frequent Albany Medical Center, and his mother, Elaine, called what ensued “a parent’s worst nightmare.”a side effect of having a faulty liver can result in a condition Porter’s father described as being “like varicose veins around the esophogus,” which can enlarge blood vessels, stymie the blood flow to the liver, and threaten to burst, pooling blood in the stomach. a few endoscopies later, surgeons found an enlarged vein and tied it off.a steady myriad of other maladies ensued. Porter’s “blood counts went bad and the (bile salt level in his bloodstream) climbed, a sign of deteriorating liver function,” said his father.meanwhile, Porter’s stomach puffed up; his water retention abilities diminished; his blood clotting abilities also dwindled, causing him to suffer frequent nose bleeds; and his potassium levels fell to dangerous levels, putting him at risk of various heart problems and requiring him to get regular blood tests at the Samaritan Hospital in Troy, two of which alone led to emergency room trips.Porter fought through it, however, and made the Dean’s List both semesters. his father, an IBM engineer, described his son as smart, determined and unflappable through most of the crucible.“One of my doctors told me I can sit inside and be sick, or I can go out and live,” Porter said of his ability to keep a positive attitude.Over the summer of 2010, Porter’s condition worsened to the point at which he qualified for the transplant waiting list, and while he waited, Porter insisted that he continue his studies. despite his best efforts, however, by October he could no longer endure and took a medical leave of absence from college.the family was summoned to the Pittsburgh Medical Center in October when the hospital got notice a liver had become available, but when they arrived, it turned out the liver had too much fatty tissue to be transplanted.Porter said waiting was the hardest part of the process, and his father noted his primary concern was whether a liver would be available in time.In the Northeast, the elder Porter said, the demand for organs is much greater than the supply of donations.Porter returned home, but on Nov. 2, the potassium problem caught up with him, and he was hospitalized at Vassar with a heart arrhythmia. the following day, he was airlifted to back to Pittsburgh, where he waited at a room provided by the Ronald McDonald House with either his mother or father — depending on whose turn it was to stay home with Porter’s other three siblings — to not risk travel difficulties in a snowstorm should a liver become available.Porter finally got his liver when a 54-year-old West Virginia woman was killed in a shooting, and his father recalled his son wept when he learned the procedure could finally be done. the younger Porter was in the middle of getting a deep IV installed when he heard the news.on Dec. 17, the 6 1/2-hour transplant went smoothly, according to Porter’s family, and two weeks after the surgery was performed, Porter was sore, but compared to how he had felt, said “I feel terrific.”Porter was being bombarded with anti-rejection medicine, and his father said he is expected to be discharged from the hospital early this week. Jacob Porter has his eye on returning to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for the fall semester.meanwhile, back home, friends, relatives, and organizations were helping raise money to cover the cost of the bills. Porter said he has health insurance, but the Children’s Organ Transplant Association — a charity helping the family raise money — estimated more than $100,000 of the bills would not be covered, and the last time he checked the liver account, it had between $5,000 and $10,000 in it.the Porter family is looking for volunteers to help with fundraising activities. Interested people can get involved by contacting Tami Ulbrandt at (845) 834-3229 or .for those who are intested in donating, donations can be made at any Bank of America branch location using account number 483035428054 or mailed to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, 2501 West COTA Drive, Bloomington, Ind., 47403. Checks or money orders should be made payable to COTA, with “In Honor of Jacob P.” written on the memo line of the check. Secure credit card donations are also accepted online at COTAforJacobP.com.
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