A mother in California received a stunning diagnosis that had her lining up her affairs.
But two Chicago connections changed the course of her story, leading to a bond with a friend that will never fade away.
Less than two years ago, Amy Piccioli went to the emergency room near her home in Los Angeles for a stomach bug that swept through her family. Then she got a call from her doctor that changed her life.
“She had said, ‘You know it’s cancer that has spread.’ I said, ‘Spread from where,'” Piccioli said.
Piccioli was told she had colorectal cancer, Stage 4, and it had spread to her liver.
Just 39, she had no symptoms, no family history and just had her third child two years before. It was a moment she and her husband could hardly bear.
“We spent a lot of nights after the kids went to bed just crying and saying how could this happen,” she shared. “What are we going to do?”
Chemotherapy started right away, which meant explaining its effects to her kids, who where then just 6, 5 and 2 years old.
“We told them the doctors found bad cells in my body, and I’m going to have to take medicine to kill those bad cells, and that is going to make mommy tired or not feel very well…make my…hair fall out,” Piccioli said.
Several rounds of chemotherapy and surgeries over the course of a year eliminated the cancer in her colon, but Piccioli’s liver still had the disease. She was put in contact with Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s transplant team. Dr. Zach Dietch recommended looking for a living donor — and Piccioli didn’t have to look far.
There’s nothing that i could ever do that could repay the gift that she’s given me…
Amy PiccioliLauren Prior received the email that Piccioli sent to family and friends asking if they can be screened for donation. Prior, who lives in Chicago’s north suburbs, soon found out she was the match her close friend was looking for.
“Her life is so important to me, it’s important to my family…it was what I could do to help her,” Prior said.
Picciolo explained, while in line for a ride at Disneyland, she received a call from Northwestern, who said they had found a donor – but didn’t reveal who it was.
“And I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is incredible.’ And then moments later, Lauren text me that she had decided to be the donor. So my husband I were standing in line at Disneyland, just hugging and crying, because it’s like we did it ….we’re going to do it.”
Late last year, part of Prior’s liver was removed to help a healthy liver grow in Piccioli, giving her old friend new life.
“When you decide to put, you know, use your own body to help them, you put things in perspective,” Prior said. “It gives you perspective about what’s important in life. You know, your health, your family, your loved ones, and the rest of it kind of fades away.”
Piccioli’s body now has no detectable cancer, but her heart is filled with gratitude.
“There’s nothing that i could ever do that could repay the gift that she’s given me…it’s incredible, it’s incredible,” Piccioli said.
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