Transplant patient closer to surgery

One woman awaiting a liver transplant is one step closer to that event.

Jamie Deitz, Elgin, N.D., was diagnosed with a liver disorder called glycogen storage disease when she was 7 months old. The disease means her body can’t process glucose normally so she has to drink cornstarch supplements each day and undergo the tube-feeding regimen each night to prevent hypoglycemia.

In October, doctors discovered multiple hepatic adenomas, or benign tumors, throughout her liver which could bleed or become cancerous. They told her she’d need a liver transplant and she’d need it before the lesions grew cancerous. Doctors put her on the liver transplant list, but Deitz said she doesn’t know when or if she’ll ever receive one.

In the case one becomes available, Jamie’s father Jim, Sanborn, N.D., raised money and refinanced his house to help pay for a $4,200 flight from the Executive Air Taxi Corporation out of Bismarck, Jim said.

The flight would take Jamie to Bismarck whenever a liver was available.

“It could be this weekend, it could be next weekend, we don’t know,” Jim said.

In addition to transportation, Jamie would be prepped for surgery while in the air, her father said.

As for Jamie, she’s doing well, Jim said.

“She’s just more or less anxious and wants to get it over with,” he said.

If you’d like to help Jamie with her medical expenses, donations can be made to the Help Jamie Fund at any U.S. Bank location.

Sun reporter Katie Ryan

can be reached at

701-952-8454 or by e-mail at

kryan@jamestownsun.com

Tags: news, surgery, transplant, deitz