Ben Blake- My Request for a Gifted Liver Donation June 4, 2016

My name is Ben Blake. And to begin, I want to thank you for even reading my story. I
am a 26-year-old college graduate living in Massachusetts with my family. Earlier this
week, I was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
The chances are very good that we do not know one-another. But even so, I am asking
for the most unimaginable gift, and you may be able to help me find it, or know someone
who can. To be blunt, what I need to continue living is the donation of a liver for
transplantation from someone who has recently died. Unfortunately, because of the
complexity of my case, I am not a candidate for a portion of a liver from a living donor.
This organ could be donated from you, or someone you know, to me. This gift of a liver
would allow me, a young person trying to continue his own life, to have a future.
I was born in Albany, New York, in May 23, 1990, and at that time, in dire need of a
liver transplant. I entered this world with the cards stacked against me. I do not feel sorry
for myself, but that is a simple fact. I suffered from a rare disease known as biliary
atresia, which had destroyed the functional parts of my liver. In biliary atresia, the bile
ducts connected to the liver become inflamed and blocked soon after birth. This causes
bile to back-up and remain in the liver, where it starts to destroy liver cells rapidly and
cause cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver. Unfortunately, there is no cure for biliary
atresia. Without successful treatment, few children with biliary atresia live beyond the
age of two. That means that my liver was damaged, and as a 7-month old baby, I was
lucky enough to receive a liver from another baby who had tragically died. I never knew
that other baby, but his parents gift to me allowed me to live. I could not be more
grateful for the life that I received based on that unbelievably generous gift.
Because of the gift I received, my life has been, as you can imagine, a little different from
most people my age (or any age!) I have had many of the best things in life a family,
an education, and great friends. But on the other hand, I have battled with diabetes,
which I developed due to the medications that I have to take every day, and have been a
regular at the local hospital, having had somewhere around 1000 doctors visits over the
course of my life. I still take huge amount of medicines every day, and have to watch
carefully how I treat my body.
But after the first twenty years, my transplanted liver has now worn out. So for the last 5
years, I have been waiting, hoping and praying for another organ. But because of the long
list of people in need of organs (people of all ages), I have not been able to move up the
list and receive an organ. But I still have hope. I am allowed to accept an organ donation
if it is donated directly to me from another person, upon that donors death. That means
that if you or a family member were to donate a liver directly to me upon death, I would
be able to receive that specific donated organ, which would be the donors gift to me. My
request is legal, like any gift-giving. But I cannot pay for my liver it must be a gift.
So today, I am in great need of a second liver transplant to live, and ask you as you read
this letter to consider what I am asking. If you would like to donate, or know someone
who might donate to me upon their death, please contact my father Duane Blake at 781492-2361, or duane.blake@comcast.net. My dad will connect you with the appropriate
people. Be sure to let your next-of-kin know of your wishes. Lastly, and also very
important, I ask that everyone who sees my letter help me to spread the word; if you

know or hear of anyone who has died, please make that persons family aware of my
great need and desire to live, and the importance of not allowing a loved ones death to be
in vain if they can help others to live.
Thank you again, for reading my letter.
Ben Blake