Tom Frye's Search for a Donor

01/08/2025

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and well wishes as my dad continues his recovery from this live changing surgery. We were able to be together for the holidays with much joy in our hearts and happiness for the future ahead.

Our family has always discussed during this journey of providing back to the community that helped support our dad with his battle with cancer. We are happy to share that Justin will be running as part of the American Liver Foundation's Live Life Challenge team in the Chicago Marathon 2025 . We kindly ask that you join in our support of Justin and his fundraising goal of $2500.

Here is the link to his personal fundraising page: https://liverlifechallenge.org/chicago/support/ &donate/301583/0

The money you donate will help the Foundation research and provide resources to families like ours who are trying to traverse through the challenges of battling cancer and other diseases. If you are unable to donate, simply sharing this post or link to spread the word would be much appreciated. Justin will be sharing his training and fundraising progress through weekly posts on his website or on LinkedIn. His website can be found here: https://randoneering.tech/

We are beyond grateful for the support we continue to receive as our dad recovers. 2023 and 2024 were intense years for our family with many happy moments but also the fear, sadness, and stress of this journey. It is, unfortunately, a journey many people in this world go through and by supporting Justin in his goal, you will be contributing to the efforts led by American Liver Foundation who are dedicated to liver health and disease prevention and provides a promise to a better future for the liver community.

We wish you the best for your own journey in 2025.

Thank you!

❤️The Frye Family

11/22/2024

Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers. Dad made it through the transplant surgery last night and all is looking good. He will be in ICU for a few days so please continue to keep him in your thoughts. He’s healing well and continues to make steps in the right direction.

I want to personally thank everyone who reached out yesterday, especially to my mom. It touched her and I know helped during the long procedure and night. She has been the unspoken hero during this journey. If you know my mom, she is fiercely protective and will continually think of others before herself. Don’t worry, Maddie and I made her go sleep and are looking out for her.

We are so grateful to have a huge support system of friends and family. Thank you everyone ❤️

Katie

11/21/2024

Dear family and friends,

I’m beyond relieved and thankful to share that a donor has been found for Dad! He is currently in surgery, and we are filled with hope as we wait.

Thank you to everyone who has kept him in their thoughts and prayers during this journey. Your support means the world to us, and we couldn’t have made it this far without the love and encouragement from all of you.

Please continue to keep Dad in your thoughts as he goes through this surgery and recovery. We will update you as soon as we know more.

With love and gratitude,

Katie

09/18/2024

Hello everyone,

I know it’s been a bit since we’ve shared an update, but we want to continue to share our dad’s journey with you all. It has been one year since his diagnosis and six months undergoing chemotherapy. While some days are good and some days are bad, we continue to be thankful for the time we spend together. Whether that be celebrating birthdays, watching movies, and even listening to the nurses gossip during infusion days.

Currently, we are still in the search for a living liver donor. Please continue to share this page and posts to spread awareness of our situation. If you are interested in becoming a donor, please fill out this questionnaire. https://shorturl.at/ghmn8

Thank you again to everyone who has been by our side throughout this journey—your kindness has lifted us up in ways we can’t even put into words.

Please feel free to DM me for more details on how to get tested or to share helpful resources.

With love and gratitude,
Katie

03/10/2024

I hope everyone remembered to spring forward today! As we try to catch up on sleep after losing an hour, we have a quick update on our dad’s journey.

He has officially started his chemotherapy rounds and will continue until a transplant option is found. Fortunately, our dad is doing okay recovering each week. He is one tough guy as he continues to battle the side effects of chemo and other factors.

We appreciate all of the continued support throughout this time. Please continue to share and like this page. If you are able, please take a look at filling out the donor questionnaire. The link can be found here: https://shorturl.at/ghmn8

Thank you!

02/09/2024

Hey everyone! We appreciate all the continued support in sharing and liking this page. We have a quick update for you on our journey.

Last week, our dad went in for a resection procedure in hopes of removing the cancerous section of the liver. Due to a potential high risk during the procedure, the resection was unable to be continued. We are thankful that the surgeon was aware of the risk and didn’t cause further complications, but we were disheartened as it is yet another side step. As of right now we are still on the search for a living liver donor. Thank you to all who have reached out to say they have completed the questionnaire, we are grateful you took the time and even considered becoming a donor.

Soon, our dad will start chemo to prevent the spread of the cancer while we are in the waiting period. The unknown of when he will get a transplant and how long he is on chemo is honestly terrifying. But we will continue to stay in the moment together and appreciate the little moments.

Again we cannot thank everyone enough for their support. We are so blessed to have such an amazing support system. Please continue to share the page as you can, we greatly appreciate it.

In honor of the Super Bowl this weekend and our dad's love of "dad jokes" - What dessert should you always serve at a Super Bowl? Sundaes!

01/19/2024

We hope everyone has stayed warm this week. We just wanted to thank everyone who has shared, liked, and commented on this page. To say we are overwhelmed with the kind words and support would be an understatement but it is the best kind of overwhelment.

Our dad is feeling better and trying to live his life as close to normal as possible. We are hopeful for the next course of action and will post an update as soon as we hear anything.

Also, for those who have expressed interest in filling out the donor form, words cannot begin to express our gratitude we have for you for even thinking of filling out the form.

If you are curious about the myths and realities of transplants, Nebraska Med has a really great general list. A big myth surrounding liver transplant is the notion that people need their entire liver to live. But a person can live with as little as 25% of their liver AND a healthy liver can grow back!

Becoming a living organ donor is selfless act that can help a recipient get an organ transplant faster. Most living donors donate one of their kidneys or a part of their liver. However, despite its life-changing potential, there are several myths surrounding living organ donation. Here, we debunk so...

01/01/2024

2023. This year has been filled with so many events, good and sad. We laughed and cried a lot, but it brought us closer together than ever. We had a wedding, a new family addition, family losses, job changes, and much more, including our dad’s diagnosis.

With a new year comes new goals and challenges. If 2023 taught us anything it is to not only live in the moment, but capture it. Whether that be with a photo or writing in a journal, finding a way to keep memories alive for the future, while still living in the moment, has become more important than ever.

We wish you the happiest of new years and encourage you to learn more about our dad’s situation. We also kindly request you share his page and join our fight to beat cancer and find a living donor.

2024, here we come.

12/29/2023

Welcome to Tom Frye’s search for a living liver donor page. We are his kids; Justin, Katie, and Maddie. Our hope is to spread awareness for our dad’s situation and ask for help. It is a big feat, if you know us Frye's, to ask for help but we sincerely request your time in learning more and encourage sharing our dad’s story.

In September 2023, our dad was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer, cholangiocarcinoma. This type of liver cancer occurs in the parts of the bile duct within the liver. We are fortunate that the cancer was caught early and treatment planning started right away. He has gone through radiation treatments and many many deliberations with his doctors to chart a new and favorable course of treatment. Living liver donation is the greatest chance to help our dad continue living his life to the fullest. Kidney donations are the most common living donation, however, part of the liver can be donated as well. A person can donate up to 75% of their liver and it will regrow over a short period of time to its fullest capacity as it is the only organ that can regrow.

Please don’t singularly think of our dad as his diagnosis, he is much much more. If you ever had to change a tire, make a wood school project, redo your bathroom, and anything else handy, our dad is your guy. He may seem reserved on the outside, but he truly is a selfless, hard working, and incredibly funny person. He is a dedicated husband, father, brother, uncle, friend, and most of all, papaw.

Thank you for your time in reading and learning more about our dad and his current situation. We hope that you will join our effort to beat cancer by sharing this page and information about becoming a living liver donor. If you are interested in finding out if you are a donation match, please click this link shorturl.at/ghmn8 If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact lclark@nm.org. We thank you for your consideration and time.