Knoch graduate recovering after donating part of liver to friend
Michael Valletto has never taken a ride in an ambulance. He had never stayed overnight in a hospital as a patient, and until this March, he had never had any major surgeries.
And technically, his recent stay in the hospital after getting a major surgery was not a treatment for him, but the result of a donation he made to his wife’s best friend.
Valletto, a Knoch High School alumnus who now lives in the Lincoln Place area of Pittsburgh, donated part of his liver to Jennifer Krizmanich, in a procedure March 6 at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. The transplant took a few hours to perform, but the road to the surgical unit was long for the donor and recipient.
“It's a pretty extensive two days,” Valletto said prior to the surgery. “There's blood tests, EKGs, CT scans, there's heart stress tests. They take 27 blood valves one day for all the blood work.”
Making it to the testing stage was a feat of its own — and Valletto proved to be an ideal match for Krizmanich because of his lack of major health issues. The tests performed at the hospital confirmed that he would be an ideal candidate to donate a liver.
“I'm an O negative blood type,” Valletto said. “I'm a larger individual — the size of a person matters. They have to take a larger portion of it, but as a tall guy ,I had enough.”
Valletto said that even before going through the hospital tests, he was already pretty aware of his own health because he gets tested regularly by his employer, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire. The health screenings done by the bureau also made Valletto aware of the issue Krizmanich had, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, also known as fatty liver disease.
“In my line of work, we get health screenings pretty often, and it seems like everyone gets a fatty liver every so often,” Valletto said.
Aside from the process Valletto had to go through to get to the point where he could donate his liver, he had to figure out how to deal with the recovery process. He said the bureau allowed him to take the time off work so he could undergo the surgery and the recovery process.
He added that for organ transplants, the recipient’s health insurance determines the personal cost of the procedure. Valletto said he didn’t have to pay anything for the hospital procedures relating to his liver donation.
Valletto’s mother, Helen Valletto, of Penn Township, said her son has always worked hard to prepare for challenges, citing the standards he had to meet to be hired by the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire as an example.
“He had to work really hard to get in with the firemen in Pittsburgh because they have a strict regimen, but he worked hard and he made it,” Helen Valletto said.
Helen Valletto also said that while she didn’t play a part in her son’s decision to donate his liver, it came as no surprise to her that he would take the leap. She said even as a child, he was a person who wanted to help others.
“Mike was very inquisitive and fun-loving and always the first to help a friend,” she said.
Michael Valletto arrived at UPMC Presbyterian at 5 a.m. March 6 for the surgery. A week before the scheduled procedure, he said he was not feeling very nervous about it, although his wife and son had some worries.
Valletto said he learned what to expect about the surgery and recovery time ahead of the procedure, and added that the hospital staff said the procedure was almost routine.
“On a little white board they show you, this is what you're taking, this is how long you'll be in the hospital,” Valletto said. “My liver they said will regrow 90% of what it was. But it takes time and energy.”
After the surgery, Valletto and the recipient of part of his liver each woke up feeling OK. Valletto said Krizmanich felt better immediately because her old liver was failing for so long that replacing it took away some of the pain she was experiencing.
But the ensuing week was hard for Valletto. He said he has been fatigued since the donation, his insides adapting to having less of a liver than he used to.
Valletto said the issues he felt after the surgery sent him back into the hospital after discharge.
“I went from feeling perfectly healthy to feeling bad because I (got) reconstructed intestines,” he said. “They discharged me, but I went back in because of my stomach issues.”
Although the surgery has left him with a lot of pain and a long road to recovery, Valletto said it was all worth it to help a friend, whose life was threatened by her liver condition.
And it’s not the first time Valletto has been in that situation. His older sister, Kathy Fagley, died in 2008 a age 43 because of a rare form of liver cancer. Valletto said treatment for his sister had been delayed because she was initially misdiagnosed — a delay that prevented her from finding a potentially lifesaving transplant in time.
Valletto said his sister’s memory played into his decision to donate part of his liver, because despite the arduous recovery he is facing, it was likely that the transplant would save his friend’s life. The odds were too good to pass up, and Valletto said he thinks his sister would have done the same thing.
“If I knew the odds of saving someone in a fire was 90% I would do it,” Valletto said. “(Kathy) would have done it for anybody. I would like to prevent that for someone else.”
Valletto received a “certificate of appreciation” from UPMC for his liver donation, recognizing his contribution to potentially saving a person’s life through his efforts.
But the biggest thanks came from the recipient herself. Valletto’s mother said Krizmanich had kind words to say about him, and thanked him for saving her life.
“The girl who he gave his liver to, she said, ‘Thank you so much for raising a wonderful son,’” Helen Valletto said. “She knew she was in dire straits and thanked me for having Mike.”
