Generosity Lesson: Middle School Teacher To Give Part Of Liver To Ex-Professor

This article originally ran November 25, 2004, in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. It is reprinted with permission. For the latest information, go to the Caring Bridge Web site.

By Troy Espe
Eau Claire Leader-Telegram Staff

Peg Dosch and Gretchen Beckstrom represent the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

“I’m very thankful,” Dosch said. “Gretchen is very giving.”

Beckstrom, a 47-year-old health teacher at Northstar Middle School, has offered to donate part of her liver to Dosch.

Dosch, 64, of Arizona, suffers from metastatic carcinoid disease, a rare cancer that started in her small intestine and spread to her liver.

Without a liver transplant, Dosch has about one year to live.

“She’s giving me the gift of life,” Dosch said as tears welled. “I don’t know how you repay anybody for that.”

The women await a surgery date at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

If finalized, the procedure would take 10 hours, as surgeons remove the large lobe of Beckstrom’s liver and implant it in Dosch, whose liver would be removed completely.

Once transplanted, the livers would regenerate in two to three weeks to 90 percent of normal, about the size of a football.

“It’s the biggest surgery in medicine,” Beckstrom said.

Dosch would recover in the hospital up to 14 days and would need to stay near Mayo Clinic at least four weeks. Beckstrom would miss three months of school.

“I feel lucky to be able to do it,” Beckstrom said. “I’m at peace with it. I’m ready to go.”

The women met in the late 1970s. Beckstrom was a student at UW-La Crosse, where Dosch and her husband, Ken Becker, taught health for more than 20 years.

“Every time I needed somebody to inspire or teach or support me, she and Ken appeared,” Beckstrom said.

Dosch was diagnosed with cancer in September 2001, when a CAT scan revealed tumors in her liver. There is no screening or symptoms for carcinoid disease.

“It wasn’t until the pain overtook me that I ended up in the emergency room,” she said. “By the time I found out, it already had moved to my liver.”

Dosch tried four methods of eradicating the cancer, including chemotherapy. Surgeons removed the primary tumor from her small intestine but couldn’t cut out her liver tumors because there were “too many to count.”

In March 2004, an oncologist talked to Dosch about a liver transplant. She joined the waiting list.

“They don’t believe I’ll ever be eligible for a deceased’s liver,” Dosch said. “My only option was a donor, and it had to be a family member or close friend.”

Becker’s son in California was a potential donor, but medical tests ruled him ineligible.

“We were all devastated at that point,” said childhood friend Geri Coggins, who is sharing her Eau Claire home until the transplant.

Dosch’s insurance company also refused to pay for the $250,000 transplant because it was considered experimental. Doctors have performed live liver transplants between adults since 2000.

“Your world changes in an instant,” Becker, 66, said. “It’s been trying, to say the least.”

When she heard of her friend’s dilemma, Beckstrom volunteered in July to donate her liver.

“I felt like it was the right thing from the very beginning,” she said. “I have a very strong commitment for organ donation. I know how few organs are available compared to the need.”

The two women hope the surgeon can perform the transplant next month, but they’re willing to wait as long as necessary.

“We’re just ready for it to happen,” Dosch said.

Dosch and Becker can’t stop tears when they consider Beckstrom’s kindness.

“She is a friend indeed,” Becker said. “What greater gift could you do?”

Dosch and Becker are going to Beckstrom’s parents for Thanksgiving today in La Crosse. They won’t have trouble counting their blessings.

“It will be significant,” Beckstrom said. “It will be a good celebration.”

Posted December 16, 2004