Langhorne man needs liver donor. And there's a deadline. Can you help?
For years Mike Kapler played clubs and festivals with bands in Lower Bucks County, helping to make people feel good. Now he’s in a fight for his life, and hopes someone out there, perhaps even a fan, can help.
“I need a liver,” said Kapler, 62, of Langhorne Borough.
More than a decade ago, he was diagnosed with PSC or “Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.” It’s a chronic liver disease that blocks bile ducts, limiting the body’s ability to filter killer toxins, and that causes end-stage liver damage. He’s got a deadline.
“Maybe a year and half,” he said.
His wife, Kathy, and their families are pitching his plight to the public. They hope that someone will step forward to donate perhaps up to 40 percent of their liver to save his life.
It’s not like you never get your liver back. Unlike other body organs, your liver regrows.
“The amazing thing is both people, Mike and his donor, their liver regenerates. Within several months, it regenerates to 90 percent of its size,” Kathy said.
While he’s on a wait list for a cadaver donor, there’s little hope that will come through in time. While he’s sick enough to be on the list, it’s unlikely he’ll ever be sick enough to be a priority.
Even then, there are qualifications. You have to be between ages 21 and 55, have the right blood type, have a healthy Body Mass Index (healthy weight for one’s height), and more.
More than 70 people have offered to donate, but they’re over 55, Kathy said.
“So that gets them disqualified,” she said. “It’s a testament to Mike and his friends and everybody who’s been working hard to help him. I mean, we’ve had neighbors, Mike’s sister’s neighbors, and the husbands of college acquaintances offer. But, unfortunately, everyone in our peer group is too old.”
Mike is a local guy, grew up in the Violetwood section of Levittown, and is Woodrow Wilson Class of 1979. His father was in the military, so he was born in Germany. His parents were traveling through Bucks County and his mother, who’s Ukranian, saw the beautiful St. Mary Ukranian Catholic Church on Bath Road in Bristol Township.
“My mom saw that church and she lit up like a firefly. So we moved here so she could be close to that church,” he said.
He’s played the guitar since he was a kid. After Bucks Community College, he started a career in the IT business. He worked for Calkins Media, the Courier Times’ former owner, which is where he met and married Kathy.
It’s been a good life, but then came the diagnosis regarding a recurring pain in his rib cage, which he first thought might be a hernia or torn muscle.
“One of the doctors said that part of the liver is consuming the other part of the liver,” he said.
The buildup of toxins can mess with your mind, too. Last January, for instance, ammonia levels in his blood went sky high.
“It made him go totally off his rocker,” Kathy said. “I basically had to manhandle him into the car to get him to the hospital.”
Meds have helped, but the side effect is that they remove nutrients, too.
“Part of the offset is he’s lost an awful lot of weight,” she said.
Despite the swirl of pain, doctor office visits, blood tests and medications, he’s muscling through, and working full-time from home doing IT work for the College of New Jersey.
He’s registered at the National Kidney foundation (https://www.nkr.org/XTD862) where there’s a bio, pics and information on finding out if you match him.
If not, you can still help by sending his page via social media to friends and acquaintances. One match is all it takes to save his life.
JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Langhorne musician Mike Kapler needs a liver donor
