Patient achieves bucket list trip to Antarctica 18 months after liver transplant

Gary Cox, 70, a retired Army Lt. Colonel, wanted to spend his retirement traveling the world. His bucket list included visiting all seven continents. That goal was in jeopardy when he started having problems with his liver.

In 2016, his doctor discovered something unusual in his blood work. They found tumors growing on his liver and he needed a liver resection to remove them. He was cancer-free for a year and a half, but the tumors grew back. He scheduled a second liver resection to remove the tumors. Again, the tumors came back, and he was referred to Methodist Hospital | Specialty and Transplant for a liver transplant, because there was not enough of his liver left to remove. Gary remained optimistic about his surgery. After completing all the tests, he was added to the liver transplant waiting list. After 18 months, he received the call that there was a match. Gary had his transplant on July 19, 2018.

"I wasn’t worried," said Gary. "I tell people there’s nothing to be afraid of with the advances in modern medicine, especially here in San Antonio."

Gary mentioned how caring and attentive the staff was. He was impressed with the process and how everyone worked together as a team. He was home in less than a week to finish his recovery.

In November, Gary had pneumonia, but he recovered and went home after several days. In March, his doctors cleared him to travel again.

"Travel is my middle name," said Gary. "I immediately made arrangements to drive out to California and up the coastline. They just had incredible rains there. The desert was a sea of colors. We saw wonderful sites."

Since then, he has visited Holland, taken a cruise to Scotland, Greenland, Iceland and Nova Scotia. He spent a week in Amsterdam. Then he booked his trip to South America and Antarctica, where he finally accomplished his goal of visiting all the continents.

"That was the most miraculous, blessed trip," said Gary. "Ninety percent of the time was perfect weather."

Gary is just one example of the patients getting their lives back and continuing to live a somewhat normal life. In Jan. 2020, the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients released its annual report on transplant patient outcomes. Methodist Hospital | Specialty and Transplant has consistently seen one-year and three-year patient survival of 95 percent. To learn more about liver transplant program at Specialty and Transplant.