7/18/2011 —
FROSTBURG — Part of Tom Kozikowski’s liver went on an Oregon elk hunt this past October, but it was inside of Patrick Barry.
Kozikowski was the living donor who provided part of the vital organ to former Frostburg resident Barry in June 2010.
Kozikowski is a teacher of environmental science at Mountain Ridge High School. At the time, Barry had been working as a fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Oregon, but had returned to his parents house in Frostburg to be closer to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Montifiore, a well-known transplant center.
Contacted by phone at his Portland home recently, Barry said his recovery has been excellent.
“I hung around Frostburg until September and made trips to Pittsburgh to be checked,” Barry said. “Then they let me return to Oregon where I continue to have blood tests.”
Recipients of livers from living donors usually have follow-up procedures for the insertion of stents into the bile ducts. Barry flew to Pittsburgh for those in January and March and anticipates another trip this summer.
“I will take anti-rejection medication the rest of my life,” he said.
Barry challenged himself physically almost immediately upon his return to Oregon.
“Five of us went into the Snake River canyon on an elk hunt in October and I was one of three hunters who got a spike elk. That was my first elk.”
The group backpacked nine miles to the hunting grounds.
“I carried out my own elk on my back, four trips with 100 pounds each time. I slept for a week straight after that,” he said.
Barry continues to work as a fishery biologist, but now he is with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This job, too, is physically demanding.
“I am the sole person working full time on the reintroduction of bull trout into the Clackamas River,” Barry said.
An article and a video about his work can be seen at http://www.oregonlive.com/enviroment/index.ssf/2011/06/bull_trout_released_in_upper_c.html.
Recently, Barry backpacked into the mountains high on the Metolius River by himself to catch juvenile bull trout for transplanting.
“I keep them in screened cages in the river and baby-sit them all night to keep the otters and bears away from them,” Barry said.
Back in Frostburg, Kozikowski is once again wrestling and playing with his son Isaiah.
“We have been biking all over Frostburg this summer, with Isaiah in a trailer seat,” he said this past week.
Kozikowski said he is fully recovered from the surgery and that his liver has regenerated to 97 percent of its original size.
“I had some pain not too long after the transplant, but recovered from that. I was laughing and the effort pulled some muscles.”
Kozikowski said Barry had gone on a 10K run without mentioning it to him.
“The way I found out is that he sent me his runner’s number in an envelope,” Kozikowski said. “Patrick and I talk about once a month.”
In December, Kozikowski received a phone call from a man who had read the Times-News story about the liver donation.
“He was considering doing the same thing and eventually became a living donor,” Kozikowski said. “His phone call made me realize that I was starting to forget little things about the transplant, so I am writing an article about the whole experience, the difficult things as well as the good things. It is meant to help people understand what they will encounter if they become a donor.”
Kozikowski said his wife, Gretchen, was an important player in the life-saving event.
“It has brought us closer together. We realized if we can make it through that, we can make it through anything,” he said.
Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.
Local News
Frostburg living liver donor says he’s fully recovered
Organ recipient remains active with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
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