Florida man receives rare 2nd liver transplant, new lease on life at Northwestern Hospital

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It's been six months since 55-year-old Andrew Wagner received a life-saving procedure.

He came back to Chicago for a post-surgery check-up on Tuesday.

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"Our kids see us differently. They see our strength," Wagner said.

And the Florida man's newfound strength comes with 15 years of medical struggle, starting with a 2010 diagnosis of a relatively common autoimmune disease known as primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC.

"It hit me quite hard, because I was induced into a coma for about a month and a half, a little bit more, before my transplant. So, I was at really dire need at that time," Wagner said.

His needs were quickly met with his first liver transplant in Florida.

"I'm not a smoker, never been a smoker, and nobody in the family," Wagner said.

But 12 years later, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022.

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"It was found on a scan, and we didn't know it was there. Apparently, it had been there for a while," said Wagner's wife, Nicole.

A year after a successful surgery and ringing a bell as a cancer-free patient, he was unknowingly preparing for another health battle.

He got sick again, but it was not cancer.

"It turned out that it was due to the liver, and it's starting to fail again," Wagner said. "We started realizing the liver was failing again, and it was kind of, like, give me a break, God, give me a break."

Wagner's condition was worsening, and because he was not three to five years cancer free, doctors told him another liver transplant was not an option.

They were denied help from multiple medical centers in Florida.

"We just looked at each other, and I just knew that's the end of the road," Nicole said.

But doctors at Chicago's Northwestern Hospital said yes.

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"And everybody agreed that we should give him a shot," said Northwestern Medicine hepatologist Dr. Andres Duarte.

So, in December doctors surgically gave Wagner a second chance at life.

"If he will be eligible for a transplant with another organ, why not consider him for liver transplantation?" Duarte said.

It was just in time to be released and back home for this past Father's Day. The Wagners are grateful for one family's sacrifice that allowed this husband and father to live another day.

"We are just so thankful for that donor, and that person who said yes," Nicole said.

The girl-granddad is now back home in Orlando, Florida with their four daughters with, he says, a new lease on life.

"Obviously, I thank God, but my wife was really the catalyst to making all this happen for me and my family," Wagner said.

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