Lorrinda Gray-Davis, relocated back to Oklahoma City in August 2016 with hopes of a fresh start. Exactly one year later, she was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer and end stage liver failure.
Not knowing anyone who had previously had a transplant, she began the daunting process of getting on the transplant list feeling lonely, terrified and hopeless; but, she was willing to do whatever it took. Many weeks later, she received a call about a possible liver match and finally began to feel some relief. However, there are times when the organ is not healthy or is otherwise not a good fit, and the transplant has to be canceled. This is known as a “dry run” and this was exactly what happened to Gray-Davis.
The next week she received a call from the pre-transplant coordinator about another possible match. Vivek Kohli, M.D., the director of transplant and hepatobiliary surgery at the INTEGRIS Health Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute at INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center, spoke to Gray-Davis about the potential liver. He informed her the organ was high risk and said she would need to commit to various precautions after the transplant. A high risk organ carries a very small risk of transmitting infection or cancer. “I knew I wanted to live. The liver they were offering me was better than what I had so I jumped at the offer,” says Davis. Her successful liver transplant took place on August 8, 2018.
As Gray-Davis began to heal and move forward, she made it her mission to support candidates experiencing the ups and downs of waiting for a transplant. “I get to visit patients, talk to them and tell them it’s okay. When you go through a transplant, you’re going to have all these feelings; highs and lows and you don’t know what to do,” Gray-Davis claims. “Your only option is to trust your transplant team, because they are going to do everything they can to help you.”
For the last four years, she has been supporting, counseling and guiding transplant patients and their families. Gray-Davis was the founder of Transplant Recipients International Organization (known as TRIO) in Oklahoma and currently serves as the group’s president. TRIO is an independent, not-for-profit, international organization committed to improving the quality of life of transplant candidates, recipients, their families and the families of organ and tissue donors.
“I am forever grateful to the INTEGRIS Health Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute and my amazing transplant team for what they have done for me,” says Gray-Davis. “Not only do I have a new liver, but also a new outlook on life. Nobody should have to go through this difficult journey alone. The transplant community is strong, resilient and TOGETHER we can be a success story.”
