Vet's Life Saved By Son, Horse

Veterinarians make a living helping horses and at times saving their lives. In this case, one vet's life was saved in the nick of time thanks in part to an emotional boost from his standardbred horse

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In the fall of 2008, Dr. Don Pooley of Embro, a popular vet for the harness racing community in Oxford County was diagnosed with a relatively rare liver disease called Primary Sclerotic Cholangitis (PSC), a disease for which there is no cure.

"I was accepted for the transplant list in June of 2009," Pooley told Trot Insider. "Fortunately for me, the liver is the only major organ in the body that can regenerate itself. As a result, a living donor is also a possibility if a perfect match and willing participant can be found."

Pooley's son, Chris, 28, turned out to be that willing participant. Chris insisted on undergoing the rigorous testing and turned out to be a match in all respects. With a match found for Pooley's defective liver it was completely removed and replaced with two-thirds of his son's liver, which in turn would regenerate itself in six to eight months.

On December 11, 2009, father and son went under the knife at the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ont. It was an extremely difficult time for Don, whose transplant took 17 hours due to the complexity of making and attaching the veins and arteries to the new liver.

"It's not easy for a father to accept that his son is putting himself in harm's way to save your life. As a parent, you always think it is supposed to be the other way around."

After two days in Intensive Care, Pooley woke up enough to realize what had happened. His first concern was for his son, and then like a true horse owner he asked about his pacing filly Aces N Embers.

"While I was undergoing surgery the evening of December 11, she had raced at Western Fair and as luck would have it, she won," related Pooley. "The win picture was taped to my wall in the transplant unit where I valued it as a good omen and for incentive."

Mike Keeling, Paula Wellwood and Dr. Don Pooley (Iron Horse Photo)

After more than six grueling weeks with many ups and downs, Pooley left the Transplant Unit at LHSC to return home. The sensitive and timely nature of Pooley's transplant was later revealed as the histology report on the removed liver confirmed the PSC, but also revealed the presence of Cholangiosarcoma - a cancerous tumor that affects the connective tissues of the bile ducts.

"I was informed that without the removal of the diseased liver and the subsequent transplant, I would have died within six months," stated Pooley. "Considering the present wait time for a donated liver from a deceased person is up to three years, my son literally saved my life."

Through his story, Pooley is hoping to raise awareness and that other lives will be saved. In Canada, there are about 4,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ donation with one person dying everyday waiting for a transplant. Pooley encourages the horse racing community to discuss organ donation with their families and join the Gift Of Life National Registry.

"We all realize this is difficult to discuss. However, by registering to be a donor, one person can save up to eight lives and enhance up to 75 others through tissue donation," said Pooley. "Unfortunately, Canada has one of the lowest donor registry percentage rates in the world at only 17 per cent compared to 35 per cent in the U.S. As a fellow horseman and recent organ recipient, I encourage you all to take up this cause."

National Organ Donor Awareness Week runs from April 17-24, 2011.