Cleveland-Area Transplant 'Sisters' Share Liver — And A Forever Bond

CLEVELAND — Two northeast Ohio women share a liver and a lifetime bond after undergoing a rare procedure to share the vital organ.

Maria Contreras, a 53-year-old mother of four and grandmother of two, and Monica Davis, a 59-year-old mother of three and grandmother of four, both began feeling unwell around the same time in 2014.

Contreras, of Cleveland, experienced severe itching on her hands and feet. After doctors performed a liver biopsy, she was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver.

“It was at the point that I couldn’t sleep,” Contreras told The Washington Post.

She was told she would need to receive a transplant, which could mean waiting a decade or longer.

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The Mayo Clinic explains that cirrhosis simply means scarring of the liver. An injured organ tries to repair itself, resulting in scar tissue.

Dr. Sumera Ilyas, transplant hepatologist at the Mayo Clinic, said as more scar tissue forms in the liver, it becomes harder for the organ to function. Cirrhosis typically comes as a result of damage from conditions such as hepatitis B or C, or chronic alcohol use. The damage typically cannot be reversed, she said. In the most severe cases, a transplant is often necessary.

Also in 2014, Davis, of Elyria, felt excruciating pain in her stomach. She, too, was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. In her case, it could have been fatal.

“The diagnosis was really life-threatening,” Davis told the Post.

She said she initially didn't want a transplant.

"I didn't want a transplant because my three children were adults and they didn't need me, and I didn't think my husband would need me, either," she told People. "I was giving up in the idea of life, of being needed."

But a few years later, with renewed faith, she changed her mind. In 2019, her name was added to the organ donor recipient list, where Contreras' name had been listed for several years.

Finally, in the summer of 2020, they got the news they had been waiting for.

A transplant coordinator called Contreras on July 1, 2020. Her surgery would happen that very same day at the Cleveland Clinic — but there was something different about this procedure. She would share the organ with someone else in an extremely rare — and possibly risky — procedure.

"Right before they took me into the operating room, I looked up and my doctor, Dr. [Koji] Hashimoto, told me everything was going to be alright. He gave me a fist bump, which made me feel confident — now I do it every time I see him," she told People.

Hashimoto said this is the only existing liver transplant technique that can save multiple people from a single donor.

"While splitting a liver for a child and adult is not uncommon, it is very rare in splitting for two adults in a case like this," he said. "In an adult-adult combination, we split a liver into 40 percent and 60 percent, which generally makes donor surgery more complex and technically difficult."

In this case, Davis got the 60 percent from a different surgeon, and Contreras got 40 percent. Both surgeries were successful.

In April, the two finally got a chance to meet in a tearful embrace, nearly two years after the procedure. They now refer to themselves as the "split-liver sisters."

“When we met, I cried, I hugged her, I was jumping with her,” Contreras told the Post. “I could feel the connection.”

They'll be friends forever, she said.

“She is a part of me," Contreras said.