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Family raising money for liver transplant

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By GEORGE WILKENS gwilkens@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 22, 2009

PLANT CITY - Nathaniel Egerton and his family wait for the phone to ring, await that all-important call that an organ donor has provided a healthy liver so desperately needed for the transplant that can save the life of the Plant City man.

In their little spare time, when his wife, Paulette, is not at her job with Sunshine Youth Services, and when Nathaniel feels strong enough, the couple and their teenage children strive to raise the seemingly impossible 10 percent co-payment not covered by insurance.

"We've raised the $5,000 necessary to get him on the list" of patients awaiting a donor liver, Paulette Egerton said. Now they are working to raise the additional $30,000.

"It's just real hectic right now," she said during a brief break in fundraising on her day off. "It's real trying on our family. Insurance pays the bulk of it," she said of the costly transplant.

But the National Foundation for Transplants, a Tennessee-based organization assisting Egerton with fundraising, estimates the liver transplant will run a minimum of $308,000, barring complications.

Nathaniel, a 10-year Sweetbay grocery warehouse forklift operator until his physician recently ordered he cease working, contracted hepatitis C from a transfusion received eight years ago, he said.

"He has bad blood now, that's why he needs a transplant," said his wife.

The 62-year-old was recently diagnosed with end-stage liver disease and doctors say a transplant is his only hope for a second chance in life.

"Right now I don't feel so hot," Nathaniel Egerton said during a recent outing with the family, distributing donation jars and spreading the word about his predicament. "You feel weak all the time" from a diseased liver, which also impacts memory, he said. The previous three days had necessitated around-the-clock bed rest.

The couple and their three children - Nigi, 18, Celina, 17, and Sierra, 14 - launched a grassroots fundraising effort to help make it happen. Bolstered by fundraising materials provided by the Memphis-based transplant foundation, they have placed donation jars bearing Nathaniel's photograph and information at various businesses.

The family is also selling merchandise provided by the National Foundation for Transplants, including "Raising hope, changing lives" T-shirts for $20, "Recipes for Life" cookbooks for $10 and $2 Hershey's candy bars.

For 25 years, the Memphis-based foundation has provided fundraising assistance for organ and tissue transplant patients across the country. In the past decade alone, the foundation helped raise more than $26 million to assist patients.

April is Donate Life Month, and the foundation has launched the NFT Transplant Challenge, encouraging individuals to register through their state donor registry. "There are a lot of misconceptions about organ donations, a lot of unnecessary fears," foundation spokeswoman Mandy Scherer said. "We're encouraging people to make that gift."

There are currently more than 101,000 patients on the national waiting list for on organ transplant, and another name is added every 11 minutes, according to the foundation. The goal is to register another 100,000 organ donors, Scherer said. Additional information is available at the foundation's Web site: www.transplants.org.

Currently, the foundation is assisting nearly 800 transplant candidates and recipients nationwide. Egerton is one of 37 Florida patients profiled on the foundation's Web site.

Additionally, friends and neighbors around Plant City are pitching in to help the Egertons, organizing weekend bake sales and similar fundraisers. "Different people are doing different things to help us raise this money," Paulette Egerton said.

"It's a challenge, but there's a lot of light at the end of the tunnel," Nathaniel Egerton said, looking ahead to the critical transplant he is confident will become reality. "After, I'll feel better," he said.

TO HELP

DONATION JARS: Donation jar sites include Papa John's Pizza, 1820 James L. Redman Parkway (where Egerton's 18-year-old son Nigi is employed); Knat's Barber Shop, 611 S. Evers St., the Sweetbay grocery at 205 W. Alexander St.; and the Sweetbay warehouse.

INTERNET: Donate through the National Foundation for Transplants by going to www.transplants.org, click on "make a gift;" enter credit card information and enter "Nathaniel Egerton" under "patient's name."

PHONE: 1-800-489-3863

MAIL: NFT Florida Liver Fund, 5350 Poplar Ave., Suite 430, Memphis, TN 38119

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433.

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