The Associated Press
A donor liver was being flown in yesterday with the hope that it would be compatible for a 17-year-old girl comatose with a rare liver disease, a University Hospitals spokesperson said.
Tiffany Culy, a Saline High School honors student, was in critical condition yesterday and breathing with the help of a respirator.
University Medical Center spokesperson Mike Harrison said the donor liver was expected to arrive at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti about 8 p.m.
More tests will be performed on the donor organ after it arrives, and if it is compatible, surgeons were to perform the transplant operation last night, Harrison said.
"It was biopsied off-site and the results look pretty promising," he said.
Harrison said he did not know where the donor organ originated.
Jessica Culy, Tiffany's 20-year-old sister, said the family also was not told where the donor organ was located but was encouraged by news of the find.
"It has been biopsied unlike the other previous livers," she said. "We found out that it's healthy. Her chances are good that her body won't reject this liver."
Jessica said her sister's condition had remained stable yesterday, three days after doctors said the teen-ager had just 24 hours to live.
"She's still holding her own," Jessica said. "This is a miracle that she's fought this long."
On Monday night, one potential donor liver turned out to be unusable, she said. The teen-ager's father, David Culy, said three other potential donor livers had proven incompatible.
"Her condition is critical, and her chances are slim without a transplant," said Dr. Jeffrey Punch, attending surgeon. "But we don't know how long she has."
Tiffany's liver failed over the span of just one week.
She was hospitalized last week and diagnosed Saturday with Wilson's disease. That rare recessive genetic disorder damages the liver by impeding its ability to excrete copper.