My hero...Dr William Hutson

I love this man! I get teary-eyed just looking at this picture of him. No, I am not talking about Nick (although I am in love with him). I'm talking about the man in the middle of us. Dr William Hutson (aka Fabio)--the man who said to me "there is no way in h***, I'm going to let a thirty year old stud die of liver failure"! When I first met Dr Hutson, he was approaching me in Nick's hospital room after Nick's liver biopsy/internal bleeding started.  He explained the biopsy of Nick's liver showed so much inflammation (hence the internal bleeding) that he needed a liver transplant. This moment was huge to me. Not only was I watching doctor's rush into the room because Nick's blood pressure and heart rate was dropping and they were running him to the ICU, but Dr Hutson is telling me Nick needs a liver transplant.  Until that moment, I still had hope that they could figure out what was going on with his liver and give him a special medication to make it better instead of putting him through major surgery.  Suddenly, my hope was smashed. That was a Wednesday. On Thursday, doctor's were telling me the next 6-12 hours were crucial because Nick had lost a lot of blood and they weren't sure about his brain function. On Friday, came the above statement from Dr Hutson as he explained Nick was being put on the Liver Transplant list as a Status One, which meant he was first to receive the next liver available in the surrounding five states. Dr Hutson was the one who called me the next morning (16 hours later) and told me that they had a liver for Nick. Dr Hutson was the one that managed his medication and liver function numbers after his transplant.  Dr Hutson was the main one we saw when Nick went in for follow up appointments after being released the hospital.  He would walk into the exam room and give Nick a wet willie! He would put his arm around me and ask how I was doing. He would cuss like crazy, but it was never offensive to me...it just made him personable and sincere. He was encouraging and funny.  He was extremely smart and humble.
Fast forward three years.  Nick received a letter inviting him to join the University of Utah's celebration of the first 100 transplants.  So we invited Nick's parents to come down with us to eat dinner and listen to their presentation.  We didn't realize until about halfway through their program that not only was this a celebration of their program's first 100 liver transplants, but also a goodbye/thank-you program for Dr Hutson.  He was leaving the U to move back east to be closer to his daughter. I almost burst out in tears! He got choked up himself when he got up to speak about leaving the U.  He had been there since 2006, he had started the liver transplant program as the lone hepatologist, and he personally knew each one of the 102 liver recipients. He knew each one of their stories. He had been the only hepatologist on-call for these liver recipients every day for at least 2-3 years.  But now he needed to be close to his daughter.  After the presentation there was a big line to go and talk with him. Nick had a follow-up appointment scheduled for two weeks away, but Dr Hutson was going to be gone by then. So, we went and said our good-bye's.  I really did get teary-eyed. I will miss seeing him and hearing about him.  This amazing doctor saved my husband's life and he will be missed tremendously.