Fox & Friends host Ed Henry has revealed in an emotional op-ed that he will donate a portion of his liver to his dying sister so that she can ‘live a long and healthy life’.
Henry’s sister, Colleen, has been battling degenerative liver disease over the last few years.
He announced Sunday morning that he will taking a medical leave of absence as he prepares to donate a portion of his liver to Colleen on Tuesday.
Henry, Fox News’ chief national correspondent, said in the op-ed: ‘I am determined to do whatever I can to give my sister the greatest gift of all, which quite simply is life.’
Fox & Friends host Ed Henry (left on Sunday and right with his sister) has revealed in an emotional op-ed that he will donate a portion of his liver on Tuesday to his dying sister, Colleen, so that she can ‘live a long and healthy life’
Henry’s sister, Colleen (right), has been battling degenerative liver disease over the last few years. He announced Sunday morning that he will taking a medical leave of absence as he prepares to donate a portion of his liver to Colleen on Tuesday
He said he hopes the op-ed will spread awareness for the more than 113,000 people waiting at this time for lifesaving organs (about 13,000 of whom need a healthy live).
Henry, who joined Fox News in June 2011, will be donating approximately 30 per cent of his liver to his sister on Tuesday.
‘I will undergo about six hours of surgery to remove that portion of my liver, and in an operating room next door Colleen will go through about eight to 10 hours of surgery to entirely remove her diseased liver and replace it with part of my liver,’ he said.
In his op-ed, Henry said the liver ‘is an amazing organ that will then regenerate in both myself and my sister after the transplantation’.
‘While we know going in that nothing is for certain, if some semblance of the game plan is accomplished, we will each emerge from surgery with our own healthy liver.’
Henry said his sister was on the transplant list, but she was worsening and needed a ‘quick intervention’.
‘Her liver was not diseased by alcohol; but family history involving the liver impacted her, while sparing me,’ Henry wrote.
That’s when he confidentially stepped forward to see if he was a match for his sister nearly a year ago.
‘It was a secret, even to my sister for a time, because there are a lot of complicated layers to this process.
‘If you tell your sibling you are going to do it, and then are unable to help for whatever reason, I can’t even imagine how difficult that gets,’ he added.
Henry (left), who joined Fox News in June 2011, will be donating approximately 30 per cent of his liver to his sister on Tuesday
Henry said he wanted to donate the portion of his liver immediately, but doctors required that he lose 10 to 15 pounds to cleanse fat from his liver before they would operate.
He recalled there were some hindrances along the way, including in the spring when doctors said he hadn’t lost enough weight to be a donor.
However, he pushed through with the help of his wife, Shirley, and their two children.
A few months later, and a few pounds lighter, Henry’s medical team called him on June 5 to give him the good news that he was cleared to be a donor.
‘My latest MRI had revealed the amount of fat in my liver had been cut by half, and the volume of my liver had actually shrunk from a healthier lifestyle.
‘The work of several months had paid off with the best dividend of all, finally getting to call Colleen and tell her I could do it!’ Henry recalled.
Henry said his sister ‘is humble, never wants to be a burden, and always tries to shoulder as much as she can on her own’.
‘So we both cried as I tried to tell her to sit back and let me take care of her this one time.’