As a pediatrician, Dr. Willie Mae Hubbard helps give children a healthy start in life. But nine years ago, she was in a situation where she needed someone to give a portion of themselves to save her own life.
Hubbard has an autoimmune disease that slowly destroys her liver. Although she had gotten along OK for decades, her liver reached the point of failure, and her only hope for survival was a transplant.
She was placed on the organ recipient list, but it took two years before she reached the top of the list and became eligible. Even then, there were no available donors that were compatible with Hubbard.
“I was really near the end, did not think that person would come, and my children had agreed to be live donors,” Hubbard said in an interview, noting the liver is one of the organs that a living donor can contribute, in which case the donor gives a portion of their liver to the recipient.