Mark Metivier always had an active lifestyle as an actor in the bustling city of New York. But a desire for change led him to move to Central Florida with his wife, where he hoped to pursue a career in sports broadcasting.
However, the excitement of new beginnings soon turned to concern as Mark's health deteriorated rapidly. Attributing his symptoms to stress, he pushed himself to continue to go to school and meet his academic deadlines.
While at home on a Saturday afternoon, Mark began vomiting an immense amount of blood, which persisted for several hours. When his wife discovered him in such a distressing state, she insisted on going to the hospital to get help.
Barely making it through the doors of the emergency room, while in and out of consciousness, Mark awoke in the ICU surrounded by loved ones and hooked up to an alarming amount of medical devices. Dr. Koteish delivered a sobering message to Mark and his family that, without a liver transplant, his chances of survival were slim.
Despite such a dire prognosis, Mark found solace in the compassionate care he received at AdventHealth. “At AdventHealth, they would actually ask me how I would feel and educate me on what was happening to me. I know so much about my own body now. AdventHealth felt like home,” shared Mark.
Placed on the transplant waitlist in May 2020, Mark braced himself for the possibility of that he may have reached the end of his life. Miraculously, on September 10, 2020, he received the call he had been waiting for—a donor had been found.
In that moment, Mark's excitement surpassed even that of his family, as he recognized the immense gift he had been given. At the AdventHealth Foundation Central Florida All Board Dinner in 2023, Mark stood before the Foundation Executive Board, humbled and grateful, acknowledging the interconnectedness of life and the profound impact of organ donation. “Receiving a transplant has many moving parts and none of those parts start moving without first a donor,” Mark continued, “I am here because of everybody else in this room.” Dr. Bobby Nibhanupudy also shared at the All Board Dinner, “Our team would not be able to do their jobs as compassionately were it not for the generosity of the Foundation’s donors.”
With a renewed sense of purpose, Mark lives each day honoring not only his own life but also the lives of the donor and the countless others who wait for a second chance at life. “My doctor left me with this: I now have three souls that I am responsible for. My own, the person who donated, and the person who didn’t get it. I live my life now honoring those three people.” For him, receiving a transplant was not just about survival—it was about embracing the gift of life and the responsibility to live it to the fullest, in honor of those who made it possible.
