A Life Changing Choice: A liver for Karla: Operation day

A Life Changing Choice: A Liver for Karla (Part 3) Karla Frisko and her donor Scott Watson are ready for surgery in part three of a Life Changing Choice: A Liver For Karla.

EDITORS NOTE: This series was produced by veteran CTV Atlantic Anchor & Reporter Bruce Frisko, documenting his sister's successful liver transplant surgery in May of 2022. Karla Frisko found a match in Scott Watson, a co-worker who was inspired to sign up for living donor testing after hearing her story. Although liver transplants are performed across Canada, living donor programs are not available in some provinces.

Enveloped by darkness in the car, Scott Watson recorded a short video for his Instagram page, where he'd been documenting an important process that had altered his life.

"I just drove to the hospital and Joe's paying for parking," he said quietly. "I'm getting ready to admit myself. I'm very, very, very surprisingly calm."

Not everyone would be.

Scott Watson had signed up to donate up to 70 per cent of his liver to donate to my sister, Karla.

The act of generosity was even more striking, given that the two were little more than co-workers and had never even met in-person when Scott volunteered for screening.

It was pre-dawn in Edmonton, early in the morning on May 2.

Some 4,700 kilometres away, in the community of Anglo Rustico, P.E.I., Scott's Mother, Linda Watson, was already preparing to make the journey to her son's bedside.

Born in Halifax and spending his early years there, he was musical and a showman, she says - the entertainer of the family.

"He was just a really happy little guy and always trying to make people happy," she said. "Always trying to make people smile and laugh. He was fun. He was a fun kid to raise."

Being so far away during the procedure was difficult, and although she had her reservations, that morning, it was out of her hands.

"Mostly, I prayed," she said, fighting back tears. "For them both. And we had the whole family praying with us, even though they were so far away."

Although more and more common, liver transplants remain a medical mystery to most of us, and when a living donor's involved, it's a marathon as well.

Three separate surgical teams work concurrently.

Scott was opened first, a good, final opportunity for surgeons to inspect his liver.

A short time later, the scalpels moved to Karla.

Scott's operation lasted six hours, while Karla's lasted 12.

As the city sprang to life on that Monday morning, our family began a long day of killing time and waiting for news.

No one was particularly hungry, but breakfast gave us something to do.

It would be suppertime before we'd hear anything, a text from the hospital that the surgery was complete and both Karla and Scott were in recovery.

COVID-19 restrictions prevented us from visiting in-person, so we celebrated with a quiet meal.

The next day, I jumped at the opportunity to interview the lead surgeon, Dr. James Shapiro, the director of the Clinical Islet Transplant Program and the Living Donor Liver Transplant Program.

I began by asking him how the operation went.

"The surgery went exceedingly well," said Shapiro.

The living donor program has been a game-changer, and a life-saver, he said, noting the generosity of donors like Scott is difficult to overstate.

"There are really special individuals out there that want to do some good materially. Like, not just say so, but something really tangible," he said with a small smile.

"And giving half your liver to someone else to save their life is an amazing gift."

Several hours later, as he was waking up, Scott's husband, Joe Connors, captured a short video that would later be posted on Instagram.

Asking him how it went, Scott replied, "Piece of cake!"

Pauses for a moment.

"Piece of Pie," he says with a smile.

So, Scott Watson would end his day much as it began: "surprisingly calm."

Both he and Karla would be monitored carefully in the critical hours ahead.

A long surgery now complete; a longer road to recovery just beginning.