CHICAGO (WLS) — It’s been six months since 55-year-old Andrew Wagner received a life-saving procedure.
He came back to Chicago for a post-surgery check-up on Tuesday.
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“Our kids see us differently. They see our strength,” Wagner said.
The Florida man gained new strength following 15 years battling a medical condition, which began with a 2010 diagnosis of a common autoimmune disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).
“It hit me really hard, as I ended up being in a coma for about a month and a half, or even longer, before my transplant. I was in a severe state of need then,” said Wagner.
His needs were quickly met with his first liver transplant in Florida.
“I’m not a smoker, never been a smoker, and nobody in the family,” Wagner said.
But 12 years later, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022.
“It was found on a scan, and we didn’t know it was there. Apparently, it had been there for a while,” said Wagner’s wife, Nicole.
A year after a successful surgery and ringing a bell as a cancer-free patient, he was unknowingly preparing for another health battle.
He got sick again, but it was not cancer.
“Ultimately, it was traced back to the liver, and it started to fail once more,” Wagner shared. “We started to see the liver was failing again, and I felt like, come on, God, give me a break.”
Wagner’s condition was worsening, and because he was not three to five years cancer free, doctors told him another liver transplant was not an option.
They were denied help from multiple medical centers in Florida.
“We just looked at each other, and I just knew that’s the end of the road,” Nicole said.
But doctors at Chicago’s Northwestern Hospital said yes.
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“And everybody agreed that we should give him a shot,” said Northwestern Medicine hepatologist Dr. Andres Duarte.
So, in December doctors surgically gave Wagner a second chance at life.
“If he will be eligible for a transplant with another organ, why not consider him for liver transplantation?” Duarte said.
It was just in time to be released and back home for this past Father’s Day. The Wagners are grateful for one family’s sacrifice that allowed this husband and father to live another day.
“We are just so thankful for that donor, and that person who said yes,” Nicole said.
The girl-granddad is now back home in Orlando, Florida with their four daughters with, he says, a new lease on life.
“Obviously, I thank God, but my wife was really the catalyst to making all this happen for me and my family,” Wagner said.
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