Carolyn Johnson

Carolyn Johnson has a new lease on life. She recently played laser tag with her granddaughter.

"I would never have done that before — in my 'old' life," says Johnson. "I'm even considering jumping on my granddaughters' trampoline."

What's the reason for her "new" life?

Johnson has a new liver. Needing a liver transplant came as quite a surprise to Carolyn and her family.

"I hadn't been sick at all," she says. "I was taking care of my mother-in-law, who was very ill, and I had lost a little weight. I thought it was from stress. Then one day I looked yellow — like I had a bad spray-on tan."

After performing tests, Carolyn's physicians in Illinois told her she was a candidate for a liver transplant. They suspected the reason for her liver failure but weren't certain.

"They told me to go to Mayo Clinic. They said it was the only place that could provide an accurate diagnosis," says Carolyn.

Physicians at Mayo Clinic diagnosed Carolyn with cancer in her bile ducts — cholangiocarcinoma. Because the cancer hadn't spread, she was a candidate for liver transplant.

During the next several months, Carolyn had radiation, chemotherapy and exploratory surgery at Mayo Clinic. Her husband, Jay, quit his job so he could stay with her in Minnesota.

The couple was told it would probably take about 18 months before a compatible liver became available. They planned to go home and wait for the call. However, a liver became available immediately, while they were still at Mayo Clinic. The transplant patient who was to have received the liver died, so it was unexpectedly available.

"We were shocked," says Carolyn. "We were happy to hear a liver was available but were sad to know that someone else lost a loved one. The liver came from a pediatric patient."

Carolyn's transplant wasn't smooth. The blood flow to the liver wasn't ideal, and she had complications and additional surgeries. She stayed at Mayo Clinic for two and a half months after the transplant.

"When I got to go home, I'd lost strength and was so weak that I had to use a walker," she says. "I don't like to dwell on how sick I was. It took about a year for me to feel really well. I don't know what I would have done without Jay's help."

Two years after the transplant, Carolyn has regained strength and is enjoying her new life.

"I get tired sometimes, and I nap," she says. "But I work in the yard, exercise three times a week and watch my granddaughter every other week. I've stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop. I feel pretty lucky now. I have become more open to trying new things with my granddaughters and looking at things from their point of view. I wonder why I didn't try things like laser tag before!"

Carolyn and Jay recently celebrated their 40th anniversary.

"We wouldn't have had a 40th anniversary — and I wouldn't be alive — were it not for Mayo Clinic," says Carolyn. "I'm so grateful. Jay and I both decided that if anything is ever wrong with us, we're going back to Mayo Clinic. The physicians work so well together and are caring and compassionate. Everyone there makes you feel like you are the only patient. We made lifelong friends there."

Recently, Carolyn added something else to her list of "new" things.

"I signed up to be an organ donor," she says. "I don't know why I didn't do it before. I don't think people realize how many people are waiting for organs and how many people never get them."