Lee Adams

Extraordinary People:
Lee Adams

Lee Adams

Lee Adams
Allegheny County

A product of Pittsburgh, I grew up in Penn Hills, played baseball and basketball in high school, and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. At the age of 40, I had a great job in sales and construction management for a local homebuilder and was very active in coaching my kids’ soccer, basketball, and baseball teams. However, everything quickly changed for the worse.

I began feeling tired all the time and started to sleep whenever I wasn’t working. Next, I noticed I was losing weight even though I wasn’t trying. I knew something had to be wrong, so I went to see my doctor.

In 1998, I was diagnosed with a rare liver disease called, Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis – the same disease that lead to the death of Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton. When the doctor gave me the news and told me that there was no cure for the disease, my first thought was that I would never get to see my kids graduate from high school - that I wouldn’t be here.

I was placed on the organ transplant waiting list in July 2004. At that point, I had hit end-stage liver disease and weighed only 127 pounds. My doctor later told me I had almost “checked out.”

But on December 3, 2004, I received a new liver – and a new life. I feel great today. I am a completely different person than I was almost ten years ago. What a poignant moment it was in my life to be so close to death and then to make such a dramatic turnaround. It is just unbelievable.

I recently received a letter from my donor’s wife, which had a tremendous impact on me and my family, and needless to say, left me speechless. As his wife states, my donor, a 51-year-old man from Chicago, was a wonderful father, active in his church, coached his kids’ sports teams, and overall, was a great family man. He was a compassionate and generous man, and my appreciation and admiration for him and his family is immeasurable. Because of one unselfish person, my kids still have a father, my wife still has a husband, and my mother still has a son. I am eternally grateful for the decision they made – a decision that allowed me to live.

My daughter graduated from high school in June 2005, six months after my transplant. I sat in the stands at the ceremony with tears rolling down my face. I remembered thinking that I would never get to see that day, and now all I can think about is how blessed I am to have been given a second chance. I thank God everyday for my donor and his family, as well as the outstanding medical professionals and staff at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Thomas Starzl Transplant Institute.

Almost a decade after I became sick, my life has returned to normal again – maybe even busier than before. Besides my usual routine of work and exercise, I also find time to volunteer for CORE (Center for Organ Recovery & Education) in Pittsburgh and I speak to high school students about the importance of becoming an organ donor. I’m pretty passionate about it – it saved my life. There are so many people who are sick and waiting for organ transplants. Someone needs to speak for them.

When I talk to students about organ donation, I ask them, “If you were sick and a doctor told you the only way to save your life was to have an organ transplant, would you receive one?”

I don’t think anyone would refuse. That’s why more people need to make the decision to be organ donors. Everyone would take one if they needed it, so why not consider giving it?