Liver donor returns home after life-saving surgery for 4-year-old foster child

NILES, Ohio — An Ohio man is back at home after coming to Pittsburgh to donate a portion of his liver to a 4-year-old foster child in May.

David Denovchek, of Niles, underwent a six-hour surgery so that a little girl named Jamie could receive a life-saving liver transplant at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

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"No amount of verbal preparation can prepare you for what it actually feels like once you wake up and someone has been inside of you and has moved things around," Denovchek told WFMJ in Youngstown.

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Had Denovchek not stepped forward, doctors said Jamie would have had just weeks to live.

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“It is a little surreal thinking that what I did is the only reason she is going to have a life. It is a hard thing to process, but it is nice. It makes you feel good about yourself, it really does. It kind of affirms everything I did and everything I am going through or have gone through, that she is going to have a future,” said Denovchek.

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Jamie, who has been in foster care her whole life, continues to recover at Children's. Once she is feeling better, Denovchek hopes to meet her.

In the meantime, Denovchek hopes more people take the time to help others in need when opportunities present themselves.

"You don't have to be someone special to do something special for someone," he said. "It just takes a conscientious decision to do something right. That is all it takes. So, I hope I can be an advocate for that and helping people."

WPXI