Liver Transplant Patient Kelsey Gallagher Resumes Life With a New Perspective

Kelsey Gallagher, 32, was completely focused on being a mom to her 16-year-old daughter as 2025 arrived. She didn’t even realize she was sick until Valentine’s Day. She said she “didn’t feel right” and couldn’t stand for more than a minute. By the next day, the whites of her eyes had turned yellow, and she was spitting up blood. Her boyfriend rushed her to the emergency department at Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg, part of Jefferson Health. 

“When Kelsey reached us, she had multiorgan failure – including kidney failure requiring dialysis – and respiratory failure,” says transplant hepatologist Shahid Malik, MD, with LVPG Transplant Surgery–1250 Cedar Crest. “Kelsey had developed severe alcohol-associated hepatitis on a background of previously undiagnosed cirrhosis of the liver. This combination of acute inflammation on top of chronic liver disease rapidly led to liver failure.” 

Kelsey was admitted to the hospital, but her condition worsened. Given the severity of her illness, she was moved to the transplant program at Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence, under the care of Dr. Malik. He evaluates and medically manages patients before transplant and helps guide the decision to list them for a donor. The decision to proceed with transplantation is made collaboratively by the entire multidisciplinary transplant team.

The clinicians’ immediate focus was stabilizing Kelsey in the intensive care unit (ICU) – managing her kidney failure, respiratory status and infection risk, while simultaneously initiating an expedited liver transplant evaluation. Once conducted, she was listed for a transplant within 72 hours. 

Allocation of donated livers is largely based on blood type and the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, which ranges from 6 to 40. With a MELD score greater than 40 and an extremely high risk of death, Kelsey was placed at the very top of the waitlist. Within 10 days, a whole liver from a deceased donor became available.

“Kelsey opened the door to liver transplant, and it took courage on her part,” says lead surgeon George Rofaiel, MD, Chief, Section of Transplantation Surgery, with the Institute for Surgical Excellence. He explains the procedure was challenging from the clinical side as well because of how critically ill Kesley was prior to the transplant.

“Patients in multiorgan failure are at significantly higher risk for bleeding and complications related to infection and kidney failure,” Dr. Rofaiel says. “Successfully navigating these cases requires careful coordination between surgical, anesthesia and critical care teams, along with meticulous perioperative management. Her case truly reflected a team effort at every level.”

In general, liver transplants incorporate an operating room full of clinicians and take approximately five to seven hours, depending on complexity. Kelsey’s procedure began in the morning, and she returned to the ICU later that day.

“When I woke up, I knew something extraordinary had taken place,” Kelsey says. “Reality sank in, in that one life – my life – would continue through another. In my case, it’s this person I’ll never meet, whose family I’ll never meet, that I’ll always be connected to.” 

A year after her surgery, Kelsey is resuming her life, but with a new outlook.

“I wake up with a positive attitude, taking a step at a time but not wanting to waste this gift,” Kelsey says. “I feel I have a responsibility to make the most of this life I was given. The biggest reason is my daughter. I can watch her grow older and be there for the moments I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten to see.” 

To her clinical team and for the transplant program, Kesley is “truly remarkable.”

“She was the very first liver transplant recipient at our institution, and she has embraced her recovery with resilience, gratitude and commitment,” Dr. Rofaiel says. “She represents exactly what our program strives to achieve – giving patients a second chance at life when they are at the brink.”