YAKIMA VALLEY, Wash. – Across the country, more than 100,000 people are waiting for organ transplants. In Washington, over 1,500 men, women and children are in need of life-saving care.
Al Bass, who previously worked as a robotics instructor with the Yakima School District, shared his journey. “I was a teacher. I was, subbing out to the Yakima School District as a robotics instructor… I always say begin with an end in mind. Focused on the endpoint. I had noticed I started getting dementia. A little forgetful quite often,” Bass said.
After showing symptoms, his wife intervened. “She threatened me to call an ambulance. Stubborn as I am, I didn’t [want to]. We went ahead and went in and that that day I got diagnosed with a liver issue. They called it NASH,” said Bass.
Bass spent a decade dealing with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, also known as fatty liver disease. For seven years, he slept in a hospital bed at home.
“I was going in weekly to get, procedure called paracentesis… And weekly, he would take out, 13.2, 13.5 liters of fluid every Monday morning. If I didn’t, I couldn’t breathe,” said Bass.
The situation worsened one day when Bass couldn’t change a tire on the highway. “It was being over 100 degrees along the highway, you know, the the heat of the pavement. I’m on my hands and knees trying to figure out how to change a tire. And it took me three and a half, four hours to put it on,” Bass said.
Once again, his wife rushed him to the hospital. “They took their tests and, and then, that day they said, you’re not doing good,” Bass said.
An urgent call for an emergency transplant went out across the Northwest. “So they brought a helicopter and and they lifted me up that night. July 22nd, 2018, that’s when I met Gregg,” Bass said.
Gregg Sutton was a musician living in Spokane. He was involved in a motorcycle accident and suffered critical injuries. “I knew he was gone, he hadn’t been declared yet, but he gave me a chance to sit in his hospital room and pray for the recipients, whoever they were going to be,” said Janet Anderson, Sutton’s mother.
In July 2018, Sutton passed away, but his organs saved four lives, including Bass’s. After recovering, Bass wanted to reach out to Anderson.
“I start writing it, I break down, I write another one, I break down, you know. How do you ask? How do you thank somebody who just lost their only child, single mother of one, and she just lost them. And I lived,” Bass said.
Anderson received the letter and was deeply moved. “When I got the letter, I was crying uncontrollably to where I couldn’t read the letter. I had to keep wiping my eyes,” she said.
The two eventually exchanged phone numbers and began speaking. “He was so scared to talk to me. And I get that. I mean, how do you talk to somebody who’s lost a loved one?” Anderson said.
Over the past six years, their friendship has grown, bonded by this life-changing experience. “We we talked a lot that first year. It was almost like I got him through it because he felt a lot of guilt. But yet he got me through it because I went through obviously a lot of hard times,” Anderson said.
Bass reflected on the experience, saying, “Because we all, I would hope, want to help somebody in life. And what better way than our very, very last act on this earth.”
For more information on organ donation and how you can help, you can visit LifeCenter Northwest.
