LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Gift of Life Wall at UK Chandler Hospital is where the names of those who’ve given the gift of life are enshrined for all to see. Ricky Sellers is in need of one more person being added to that wall.
Sellers is 65 years old and in need of a liver transplant. He learned of his incurable disease more than two years ago.
“As time goes by it gets more frustrating,” he said.
Sellers has had to go through several procedures, many of them painful, just to make it to this point. He’s been on the wait list for a new liver for nearly two years. Twice he received a call that a liver had been procured, only to learn that the organ had some sort of damage.
“When I get those calls and it didn’t go through, it’s a huge disappointment,” he said.
Sellers lost his son to COVID-19 not long ago. He’s engaged, and would love to be spending time with his grandchildren. Right now, though, he can’t even travel.
“Can’t take a vacation, because if I get the call I need to be nearby,” he noted.
Despite being ill and tired he’s also dragging himself to work each day because as he indicated, he’ll need the insurance coverage to pay for the transplant.
At UK, there are currently 721 patients waiting for life-saving transplants of some kind. More than 1,000 people across Kentucky are on the list. Despite having roughly 2,000,000 people on the registry, or about 50 percent of our state’s population, we’re still short on donors. Elizabeth Powell, the Outreach Manager for UK’s transplant department, labeled the need as being “dire.”
Sellers knows all about that.
“As time goes by my liver is getting worse. And if a cancer spot shows up and gets too big or if a cancer gets out of my liver and in my body, they’ll take me off the list and I can’t get one,” he stated.
For now, he’ll wait. And his phone will never be out of his reach.
