Update on Will Corcoran’s Liver Surgery Campaign

Thanks to everyone who commented, e-mailed, tweeted or otherwise spread word about Will’s emergency this week. For those who missed it, my fifteen-year-old cousin Will Corcoran is struggling with cystic fibrosis and is in fatal need of a liver transplant. His mother is overwhelmed by the reception and well-wishes, and I’d like to update anyone who came into the campaign through this site.

A total of nine people reached out about potential liver donation last week. It’s the greatest testament to the internet as a force for good that I’ve ever personally experienced. The screening process is understandably rigorous, going through remote interviews before graduating to physicals and eventually to tissue tests in Connecticut.

So far three of the nine candidates have been turned down in preliminaries. We don’t know how many will be approved for tissue-testing, but if everyone who came forward proceeds then the screening process will temporarily be at capacity. We're suspending the campaign drive for a week or two to let existing potential donors go through the process.

If you’ve already contacted me or Bean, please continue with the process. You’re already in our figures, and the figures are determining the time frame under which we’re working.

I don’t feel relieved yet, because it’s easily possible that none of the applicants who do go through will be tissue-matches. If I get word that there are no matches or we’re running out of candidates, I will kickstart this drive again and beg upon your kindness to help magnify the message. It’s the frustrating situation where, if we don’t have a viable donor, we have to scramble. I’d like to dive in entirely right now and drum up as many potential candidates as humanly possible, but I respect the doctors’ and Bean’s requests and appreciate that processing takes a long time. Sometimes health is about hurrying up and waiting.

If you would like to be notified of a change – whether Will finds a donor, or the tests show we don’t have one – please leave your e-mail or Twitter handle in the Comments below. I’ll get in touch with you as soon as we have news.