CINCINNATI — April is National Donate Life Month and more than 600 people in Cincinnati are urgently waiting for the gift that will save their lives.
John Mock received a life-saving gift of a liver transplant on June 22, 2018.
"Today is day 2,488 post-transplant, I count every day," Mock said.
It all started when his stomach enlarged overnight on December 28, 2017.
"On the morning of December 29th, which was my middle daughter's 26th birthday, I woke up looking like I was six months pregnant," Mock said.
WATCH: John Mock's story and how he got his life-saving gift
In March of 2018 he was diagnosed with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, a genetic mutation that research has shown causes accumulation of mutant Z protein in liver cells. Doctors diagnosed him with liver failure that same month.
Mock went through months of testing just to be put on the wait list for a liver transplant.
"It's overwhelming," Mock said.
Around 90 days later, he was added to the nationwide United Network for Organ Sharing database for a liver transplant.
Doctors told him he had about six weeks to live — but on that same day, he received the call that his donor Clete Schnieders would gift him a liver.
"For me to be on that list, only 4 1/2 hours was quite remarkable, and the fact that my donor and I lived less than 25 miles away from each other is even more remarkable," Mock said.
At 27 days post-transplant, he met Schnieders' legacy: His wife and children.
Mock said he doesn't take it for granted that Schnieders, a 41-year-old husband and father of three children saved his life.
He now shares the story of his rebirth, including how he received his life-saving gift of a liver transplant in the early morning hours of June 22, 2018 — his mother‘s 60th birthday.
"This is about helping those people continue to live," said Andi Johnson, vice president of marketing and community engagement at Network for Hope.
Johnson continues to advocate for donor families and those waiting for the gift that will save their life because her friends and family have been affected in a similar way.
"Why wouldn't you become a donor? That's an opportunity for a person to leave a legacy, to provide hope," Johnson said.
She hopes people do not let misinformation prevent them from making a life-saving decision.
"If we can just register one more donor every time somebody hears my message than that's a good thing," Mock said.
If you are interested in registering as a donor click here.
