The former News 12 Long Island anchor who has been waiting months for a life-saving transplant just got the call she had been hoping for.
Amy McGorry, of Sea Cliff, has found a liver donor.
“Amy, we found you a match for the liver you need,” a voice told her around 10 a.m. today, Monday.
McGorry said she was teaching her “Intro to Health Sciences” class at LIU Post when her phone rang. She typically doesn’t answer during class, but made an exception when she saw “Cornell Medical Center” on the caller ID.
“After I hung up, I went back into class and screamed, ‘Guys, I got one!’” McGorry told Greater Long Island. “These students have been with me for a while, so they all know what’s going on. They stood up and started cheering and screaming.”
The hospital told her the donor wishes to remain anonymous and shared only that the liver is coming from a female, she said.
As Greater Long Island previously reported, McGorry has been battling two rare diseases — autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis — that have progressively damaged her liver.
After going into liver failure, she needed a living donor with O-positive blood.
In a living liver donation, a healthy adult donates a portion of their liver to a patient. Doctors say both the donor’s and recipient’s livers typically regenerate within two to three months.
McGorry said the eight-hour surgery is scheduled for June 9. Recovery is expected to take one to three months.
For now, she said, she’s focused on the moment.
“The fact that there are good people willing to help out a stranger makes you feel good about humanity,” she said.
“It gives you hope.”
Prior coverage
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