by Ashley Bailey, The Eureka Reporter, 11/21/2007
Lindy Mitchell, of Placerville, is donating 60 percent of her liver to her brother, Rob
Sheltman, of Eureka. Sheltman has a fatal liver disease and the pair plan to have the transplant surgery on Nov. 29 in San Francisco. Submitted photo/Tammy Sheltman
Rob Sheltman, of Eureka, will be granted with the gift of life this holiday season.
His sister, Lindy Mitchell, of Placerville, will be donating 60 percent of her liver to her brother on Nov. 29 at University of California’s San Francisco Medical Center.
“I will be very scared,” Mitchell said. “I’m more scared that he’s so sick right now, but I have all the faith in God that everything’s going to be fine.”
As previously reported in The Eureka Reporter, Sheltman was diagnosed with hepatitis C 10 years ago. The treatments did not respond well, and he was diagnosed with a fatal liver disease.
About four years ago, Mitchell said she had a dream where God told her, “You’re a perfect match.”
Mitchell said Sheltman was not sick at the time, but found six months later that he would be put on the list for a liver transplant.
“That’s when I told him — I’m the match,” Mitchell said. “I believe God called me to do it. I’m a perfect match; I’m not going to question it.”
The pair were supposed to undergo the eight- to 12-hour surgery two years ago, but Mitchell said they had to wait until Sheltman was healthy.
“In order to risk my life, he has to be at a certain place and he’s there now,” Mitchell said.
Sheltman and Mitchell are in Long Beach visiting their mother for the holidays. Mitchell said Sheltman is in critical condition at Memorial Hospital in Long Beach after a collapse that left him unconscious.
Sheltman’s liver disease has started to affect his entire body, Mitchell said, and has made him ill for several years.
She has hopes that her brother will remain stable in order to travel to San Francisco for the surgery.
“I’m a match and I love him; that’s the way I was raised,” Mitchell said of her decision to do the transplant. “He’ll die if I don’t.”
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