Paul Cimmerer

My name is Paul Cimmerer and I received the life saving gift of a liver transplant over 25 years ago. When I was 31, I was diagnosed with a chronic liver disease and at the time did not know how long it would be before a transplant would be needed. For about 10 years I was able to live and work and raise a young family of four daughters with my wife Sandy. The time finally arrived when it became necessary to be added to the list of people awaiting transplants. I was extremely fortunate to not have to wait a long time before a donor liver became available from a family in South Dakota. I felt relief and also extremely scared about what the outcome would be. At that time, our children were all pre-teens and my one wish as I walked out the door to go to the U of M for the transplant was that I would live long enough to see our daughters graduate from high school. I placed my faith in God and the medical staff at the U of M and the long term outcome could not have been better.

Through all of my post-transplant experiences, nothing is more precious to me than my family and being able to live life with them.

Because of the courage and caring of my donor and his family I have been blessed with a much longer life than I could ever have anticipated when I was initially diagnosed. As a family we were able to send our four daughters to college, have the good fortune to be a part of four weddings and we now have eight wonderful grandchildren. I have had a long and successful career in human resources and continue to do consulting work. I have also had the wonderful opportunity to pursue my interests in pottery and painting as creative hobbies that bring me much fulfillment and joy.

There are no words for me to describe the feelings I have about being a transplant recipient.

Profound gratitude and love for all who make it possible first come to mind but the emotional complexities of receiving a second chance at this life while many donor families suffer the loss of a loved one is not lost and will forever remain in my awareness.

My family and I live in perpetual gratitude for the generosity of my donor family and I send them and all donor families prayers and blessings every day.

I love volunteering for LifeSource as much as I can and am so grateful for the staff and resources at LifeSource for the life giving work they do with donor families, recipients and medical facilities and staffs.