When she tripped outside her home, fell and cut open her face, Jean Paslawsky had no idea the fall “happened for a reason.”

For the Tamaqua woman, a 1975 graduate of Marian Catholic High School, that incident would lead to a life-saving liver transplant operation performed in October at UPMC’s Liver Transplant Program of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute in Pittsburgh.

Deeply religious, Paslawsky, is recovering five months later. With April as National Donate Life Month, she will tell you the fall uncovered a cirrhosis diagnosis she never knew she had.

It was a “sign from God,” she said.

“And He never failed me.”

Paslawsky’s faith in God gave her patience to wait months for a qualified donor to be found and even a willing donor to give her part of his liver, a generous gesture that ultimately saved her life.

Paslawsky received part of the liver of a U.S. Marine Corps veteran now living in Florida, and as a result of the 12-hour surgery on Oct. 17, is recuperating nicely in the home she shares with her sister Joann.

Joann, a 1969 Marian graduate, was her caregiver following her fall.

The fall

It was in October of 2021 when Paslawsky tripped outside their Tamaqua home. She remembers falling face-first, striking her head and cutting her lip. A neighbor, who is a nurse, helped her and took her to St. Luke’s Hospital-Coaldale campus, telling her she needed stitches.

“l looked and there was so much blood, I couldn’t believe it,” Paslawsky said. Her nose was not broken, but the cut lip required sutures.

The diagnosis

“Up until that day, I had no symptoms of an illness, nor did I feel sick, and I was talking to my doctor, telling him I felt great, except for the lip, but figured I’ll be a little achy, and will be fine,” Jean said.

The day after Joanne took her home, Paslawsky experienced sensations that exceeded the bruised mouth, and ones she never felt before. “I was sore, but my face swelled and gums swelled. I couldn’t explain it. I felt like someone whacked me in the head,” Jean said.

Some days later, after she had the stitches removed, Paslawsky attended an event at St. Jerome’s Parish in her hometown.

The following day, she said, “I couldn’t bend over. My stomach swelled and my legs were so huge that I couldn’t bend them.”

After undergoing “soup to nuts” testing at a hospital in Pottsville, Paslawsky received the damning news from doctors that she had cirrhosis.

She replied to the doctor, “I couldn’t possibly have cirrhosis, unless it’s in the water.”

Paslawsky said the medical explanation she received was it “is not always true that cirrhosis is caused by alcohol.” In fact, she says, she learned only 19% of cirrhosis cases come from alcohol.

Cirrhosis is commonly known as having a fatty liver that could be caused by a combination of things, including medications.

Need for transplant

Paslawsky pointed out that only with a damaged liver did she find out about liver illness, and that some of the physical experiences she would undergo are typical of the illness.

Informed she had Stage 4 liver disease, she said, “I started retaining water like mad, even with taking diuretic medicine,” Paslawsky said. “The pills weren’t helping.”

Strangely, she remembered her class ring became loose in her fingers, which became thinner.

After consultation with a dietitian, she continued on a high protein diet and things she could do before were longer doable for her. “My sister, for months, had to put my socks and shoes on because I couldn’t bend over,” Paslawsky said.

In God’s hands

She remembers how her strong faith helped carry her through the next year of anticipation for a donor.

She recalled, “I said to myself, ‘This all happened for a reason, but it’s God’s way. He works in different ways.’ I prayed to Him, ‘I’m in your hands; I just have to wait.’?”

As difficult as her days turned out to be, Paslawsky learned more about the “Living Donor” program in which part of a person’s liver is transplanted to the sick person and it “immediately starts to grow and regenerate.”

Qualifications for the program, she was told, are the donor and recipient must be under 55 and the donor needs to be in good health, among other qualifying criteria (blood type, etc.).

As suggested by doctors, Paslawsky began telling her story to friends. She said, “I immediately got a text from a woman who said ‘I’ll be your donor.’” Paslawsky said while the offer was genuine and certainly appreciated, she told the woman, “You have grandchildren; you have a family.”

She suggested the woman talk to her husband

She said the would-be donor “wouldn’t hear differently,” and arranged to undergo preliminary blood testing as a prospective donor, only to find out she had multiple myeloma.

Paslawsky said, “Her generosity actually saved her life. When she called me to tell me she couldn’t be the donor, I told her, ‘I don’t know what to say. I’m breathless, but your generosity saved your life. I know the guardian angels knocked me down to find out what was wrong with me, because nothing else happened to me, except this lip thing … now you (get bad news).’”

The woman is scheduled to undergo a bone-marrow transplant this month, Paslawsky said. Despite not having the donor scheduled, she added, “God bless her. He has blessed me so much throughout this entire thing. I never once was afraid or worried. I immediately felt it’s going to be all right. God’s got me. I felt ‘Leave it up to God. He has really taken such good care of me.’”

The September call

While she remained steadfast in her faith, and showed relentless patience, Paslawsky’s physical condition continued to deteriorate through 2022.

There were days, she said, she couldn’t lift her head, times when she couldn’t form sentences. She experienced hearing loss, weight loss and her salivary glands were not functioning.

She said, “I was experiencing an incremental, slow erosion of my body. I thought, ‘A transplant can’t come fast enough.’ I was so weak and tired, but, still, I didn’t complain. I know how much worse others are and I could be.”

Paslawsky was saddened by her inability to get to church, so she penned a letter to her pastor, asking the parish to “pray for me,” she said, adding, “It was the emptiest, darkest part of my life.”

While she was on waiting lists at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, and UPMC in Pittsburgh, Paslawsky continued to reach out to tell the story of the importance of a gift of life.

“When people expressed their concern for me, I told them to have faith,” she said. “I had to focus on the positive, and the positive is that God is in our lives.”

To her surprise, Jean was notified two other people expressed a willingness to be a donor. While pre-operation testing was underway, she received a shocking telephone call in September from UPMC.

Paslawsky recalled, “I got this call from UPMC, and the woman (Karen) told me they have me scheduled for a liver transplant on Oct. 17. I said, ‘Excuse me … do I have a donor?’ She replied, “You have a donor who matched and is approved.’”

Her first thought was, “I have no idea who this person is, but they are saving my life. God is good.”