He had her heart in middle school; now she has his liver

They’ve known each other since grade school. After they married, she needed a liver and he became her giver.

By TJ Banes, IU Health Senior Journalist, tfender1@iuhealth.org

Ashley Herman remembers drawing hearts over Daniel Herman’s Middle School yearbook picture. Daniel has a younger sister and Ashley has an older brother. It wasn’t unusual for Ashley to attend her brother’s wrestling matches so she could watch Daniel compete in the 115-pound weight class.

“You could say I had a crush. We were just friends and then lived our separate lives after graduation,” said Ashley. Daniel moved around living in Nashville, Maui and Florida, before coming back to Indiana.

They reconnected 11 years ago in their Northside Indy neighborhood and were married on a beach in Maui in September. Ashely, 41, wore a pink and white dress; Daniel, 43, wore a button-down shirt and khakis. Ashley has a 15-year-old daughter and Daniel has a 10-year-old daughter that complete their family.

Ashley was born with a fatty liver and in 2020 was diagnosed with cirrhosis.

“In all honesty it hit me when I was diagnosed. I was already at Stage Four liver disease,” said Ashley. Daniel had just taken his wife and her mother on a weekend get-away to Nashville, Ind. to celebrate Ashley’s September birthday. They stayed in a cabin and enjoyed a great fall weekend. When they returned, Ashley became extremely sick. The sickness lasted three long years. She was banded 20 times, a procedure that stops bleeding from enlarged veins caused by cirrhosis. She had also had four hip surgeries before her 40th birthday due to degenerating bones and a fall.

“When we started with IU Health, there were problems listing her for transplant because of all the surgeries. She had difficulty walking and standing,” said Daniel.

At IU Health, both kidney and liver transplantation can come from living donors. To ensure the best match and the best outcomes, both the recipient and potential donor undergo a number of tests and evaluations. A living liver transplant involves removing a portion of the donor’s liver and then using it to replace the diseased liver in the recipient. The liver regenerates and returns to full function within a month.

Living organ donors reduce or eliminate the need for patients to spend years waiting for a deceased donor. An organ from a living donor can function better and last longer because the donor is healthy. It also functions better because the organ is transplanted into the recipient shortly after being removed from the donor. Because of these factors, patients receiving an organ from a living donor often have better outcomes than patients receiving an organ from a deceased donor.

“At the point I knew if I was a match there was no doubt I’d do it,” said Daniel. On February 5, Ashley received her new liver from her husband. They were in the care of IU Health’s Dr. Chandrashekhr Kubal.

Daniel visited his wife soon after surgery. He was released a few days later. Ashely remained hospitalized for about two months due to complications. After years of illness that caused her to miss her daughter’s softball games and other activities; and months of recovery, Ashley said she’s ready to get back to being a mom.

“Being a mom is all I’ve ever wanted to be. Tomorrow isn’t promised and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to express my appreciation that Daniel gave me a second chance at life,” said Ashley.

“I said from the beginning, ‘we can sit in a corner and cry or we can move forward,’” said Daniel. “We didn’t get this far to sit and cry. She’s one of the strongest women I know and we’re going to get through this together.”