Home for the holidays, liver transplant recipient has new lease on life
Dec. 30—SALEM — Rob Ruttkamp perked up when the phone in his West Road home rang at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 12.
"Transplant," read the caller ID.
The call was from the Hartford Hospital Transplant Center, which had just learned a healthy liver suitable for transplantation had become available. It was a match for the size of Ruttkamp's diseased liver and the right blood type ― B positive.
Could he get there by 2 p.m.?
"I just dropped to my knees," Ruttkamp said Wednesday as he recounted in an interview what he called the "miracle" that has given him a new lease on life: a full liver transplant from a deceased organ donor whose identity he has yet to learn.
"I was there by 1:15," he said.
Ruttkamp first spoke about his plight in July. Then 59, he was suffering from nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a condition that develops when the body stores excess fat in the liver cells, making it difficult for the liver to function. Two of his four siblings had died of the disease.
With his name among scores of others on Hartford Hospital's list of patients awaiting a deceased donor, Ruttkamp had chosen to seek a living donor.
His gastroenterologist at Hartford Hospital, Dr. Michael Einstein, referred him to the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., which collaborated with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine to create the Montefiore Einstein living donor transplantation program.
Ruttkamp appeared on social media and billboards and in a television commercial that aired in Fairfield County and the New York City area.
An acquaintance of Ruttkamp's son, Kyle, responded to Ruttkamp's Facebook plea but nothing came of it. No other potential donors came forward.
Now, seven weeks after surgery, Ruttkamp is up and about at his home, looking and feeling well ― experiencing discomfort at times but no pain ― and talking about returning to work at Ring's End in Niantic, where he's a salesman.
So far, the 14 pills he takes daily to keep his body from rejecting the donor's liver and to ward of fungi and infection have been effective. He also injects himself with blood thinners.
"Every test has shown that everything is functioning perfectly ― no sign of rejection," Ruttkamp said. "I'm definitely blessed to be where I am."
At 196 pounds, 22 fewer than when he headed into surgery, he needs to "pack on some weight," his wife Debbie said.
Complications, a setback
After a sleepless Sunday night at the hospital, Ruttkamp underwent surgery the next morning, Nov. 13, six days after his 60th birthday. When it was over, he learned the procedure lasted 15 1/4 hours and involved some drama at the outset.
Soon after Ruttkamp was anesthetized, doctors discovered a small growth on his heart that they later had trouble locating. Should they proceed with the transplant?
It fell to Debbie, who had been directed to return home, to decide.
"My son wasn't around when they called, and I thought, 'Rob will kill me if I stop this surgery. This is his only chance of getting a liver. What's his alternative ― dying because of no liver?' "
"She made the right decision," Ruttkamp said.
At midnight, Debbie got another call from the hospital. Her husband was in recovery.
Ruttkamp expects doctors to deal with the growth on his heart in the near future.
Ruttkamp, who was on his feet the day after surgery, spent three days in intensive care. At that point, Dr. Oscar Serrano, who headed the surgical team, told Ruttkamp he looked so good he might be able to go home the following Tuesday, two days before Thanksgiving.
Internal bleeding put an end to that possibility, a setback that delayed Ruttkamp's release by some three weeks. Doctors succeeded in avoiding further surgery while resolving the problem.
Ruttkamp came home Thursday, Dec. 14, only to be rushed back to the hospital by ambulance that Saturday, his blood pressure, heart rate and temperature soaring.
Successfully treated with antibiotics, he came back home again Dec. 21.
"They promised me I'd be home for Christmas," Ruttkamp said.
A solemn vow
While grateful to doctors Serrano and Bishoy Emmanuel, the latter of whom headed the team that harvested the donor's liver at another location, the Ruttkamps recognize the debt they owe the donor.
Ruttkamp said Hartford Hospital will provide him and his wife with some information about the donor in about six months. He said they've been advised to write to the donor's family and perhaps describe Ruttkamp's recovery and express his gratitude.
"You might get a response, you might not," Ruttkamp said they were told. "Sometimes, the (transplant recipient) never hears a word."
The Ruttkamps vow to become advocates for organ donation.
"We're going to push for helping people," Ruttkamp said. "When you turn 18, identify yourself as an organ donor on your driver's license, or ID card. You can save lives."
According to a website maintained by the Health Resources and Services Administration, more than 103,000 adults and children are on the national transplant waiting list. More than 88,000 are awaiting a kidney, followed by more than 10,000 awaiting a liver.
"Knowing someone lost their life so you could continue living ... that's something you'll never forget," Ruttkamp said.
