This woman had to campaign to find a liver donor. Transplant docs say there should be a better way

LISTEN | A stranger south of the border donated part of her liver: The Current 22:58 Would you become a living donor to a stranger?

It's pretty unusual in the medical system for a patient to be tasked with finding their own cure. But that’s what happened to Stephanie Azzarello in 2023 when she was told she needed a liver transplant or she would die.

Azzarello has primary sclerosing cholangitis, a rare chronic liver disease that causes damage to the bile ducts and the liver.

A decade after she was diagnosed, there was so much damage to her liver she went on the waiting list to get a liver from a deceased donor. But the Toronto woman was told it was very unlikely she’d ever get an organ that way.

Instead, she needed to find someone who was willing to undergo a major surgery to