What is a living liver donor?
Living liver donors donate part of their liver to someone with liver failure. Liver failure may be caused by a number of conditions, including liver cancer, hepatitis or cirrhosis.
Donating part of your liver is possible because the liver – unlike other organs – has the remarkable ability to regenerate. If you donate part of your liver, the rest grows back to most of its original size within weeks. It then continues to grow slowly to reach its full size over the next year.
You can give this lifesaving gift to a relative, a friend or even a stranger. Thousands of people in the United States are waiting for a liver from a deceased donor – but patients with a living donor have a much shorter wait time and a better chance for a successful liver transplant.
