Live Then Give

My name is Ashlyn and this site is dedicated to my Memaw, my father’s mother, Faye Jimmerson Cates. She passed away April 22, 2010, from End Stage Liver Disease or, as it used to be called, natural cirrhosis of the liver.

Medications can be given to liver patients to help with the symptoms of this disease. However, the only cure is a liver transplant. Even though transplants help save lives, waiting lists to get a new liver are extremely long. Each year in the United States, about 17,000 people are put on waiting lists, but only about 5,000 livers become available to be used for transplants. My Memaw was on the transplant list. Her life could have been saved if a donor liver had been available for transplant.

Going through this experience with my Memaw and watching how it affected her and the rest of my family has made me determined to do what I can to keep people from being robbed of valuable years of enjoying life and loved ones. It is my hope that this website will allow others to benefit from our loss.

For many people, an organ transplant is the only option they have to live and liver patients are not the only ones waiting. Currently in the United States, more than 100,000 people are on waiting lists hoping to get the call telling them that a lifesaving donor organ is available for transplant. Unfortunately, an average of 18 people die each day before they get that call. One organ, tissue and eye donor has the potential to save and enhance the lives of more than fifty people. It is my hope that you will become a donor today! My wish for you is that you live your life to its fullest, and then give the gift of life so that others can do the same.

Ashlyn