Kotaku
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Gamer Risks Death To Save Nephew
On September 4th of last year, firefighter Jeff Diederich came home from work to discover his year-old son Aiden lying strangely still in his crib, grey and yellowed from Jaundice. He and his wife Heather rushed to the hospital only to discover that Aiden needed a liver transplant, and was no way the always crowded National Donor List route would save him in time. Their only option was a living transplant, where a portion of a living donor's liver is transplanted into the recipient. The father offered to undergo the procedure, but his family changed his mind. The 40% risk of donor death meant that Heather would be left alone with two children, so they had to look elsewhere. Enter Aiden's Uncle, Jeff Shoemaker.
Jeff, the uncle, recalls, "after seeing him laying there with all the tubes and hoses, cables and wires I think all my fears went away. My life was worth giving to save his, and if that's what it took, I was fine with that."More »
