(upbeat music) (inspiring music) (inspiring music continues) - Hi, I'm Jacqui Tricarico on location at the New Jersey Sharing Network's 5K Celebration of Life here in New Providence, New Jersey.

So pleased to be joined now by Emily Barkocy, who is a liver transplant recipient.

Great to have you here with us, Emily.

- Hi, Jacqui.

Thanks so much for having me this morning.

So, take us back to 2022.

- Yes.

- Your story's a little bit different than several others that we've heard.

Everything happened very quickly.

- Yes.

- Talk about what went down and how it led to a liver transplant for you.

- Kind of a surreal experience.

I was healthy until I wasn't.

I woke up June 30th, 2022, just feeling like I had the worst flu of my life.

My twin girls were four and a half.

I figured I got some kind of awful stomach bug from them, everything would be fine in a day or two, and within a day or two, I just was so sick to my stomach and started having such intense abdominal pain that I called my doctor who advised me to head straight to Morristown, possibly my appendix had burst, only to have a battery of tests run and find out I was not only in liver and kidney failure, they told me that they would contact the nearest transplant hospital.

I was looking at a need for an immediate liver transplant.

Something that never even entered my mind would be within the realm of possibilities.

I was medivaced out by Morristown to NYU Langone and given about 24 hours to live and diagnosed with acute liver failure.

- How common is this?

- About 10 people out of every million across the globe are diagnosed with acute liver failure.

So, it was very, very quick process and my transplant team saved my life.

- So yeah, usually we hear, you know, people are on transplant list for years.

How was it that you were able to get a donated liver and a match so quickly?

- A miracle.

There is no doubt in my mind that some kind of divine intervention happened.

I am here because of a medical miracle.

Everyone that I talk to in the medical field is like, "That doesn't happen."

People wait on lists for months, for years, and I was listed about four or five o'clock on the afternoon and by 10:00 AM the next morning, I was already in the OR getting my new liver.

And that just, it doesn't happen.

- I'm sure during that time it's much of a blur for you, but coming out of all of that and understanding what happened and that you actually had someone who had passed away give the gift of life to you, the liver, how were you able to digest all of that?

- It took a while.

There was several different stages, I feel like, of happiness, so many different emotions, of sadness for that family, but happiness that now somebody else kind of, I am able to carry on their life and their legacy and live for them.

So I feel like I have this whole new purpose, but because it was so sudden, I think in a way I'm so blessed because I didn't have time to be scared.

They came in and told me, "You've been diagnosed with acute liver failure, you're gonna need an immediate liver transplant.

That doesn't mean you're gonna get one, but we're gonna do our very best for you."

I made my final phone calls, I called my mom, I said goodbye to my family.

I signed all the paperwork with my medical rights.

I mean, it was by far the scariest thing I've ever been through.

But at the same time I woke up and I just felt this intense sense of gratefulness.

Like, I had a greater good.

There was a reason why I'm still here.

There was still more for me to do and hopefully to spread the message that organ donation isn't something that just impacts people that are very, very sick or people that are older, that it can touch each of our lives.

I was 40 and very healthy otherwise when I was diagnosed with acute liver failure.

So just, I feel such an immense gratitude to still be here.

- And you're doing that in a lot of ways of spreading that awareness.

Talk about, you're a vice principal.

- Yes.

- And you're doing some unique things in your school.

Tell us about it.

- Yeah, so I'm an assistant principal at Morris Hills High School in Rockaway, New Jersey.

And I've been so blessed that the driver's ed teachers invite me in every marking period, and I talk to students about making educated decisions about organ donation.

It is something that touches all of us in one way or another.

I think sometimes high school students are not thinking about that or thinking, that's something, you know, you think about when you're much older.

But as they start to get their driver's licenses, I want them to know it's important that there's not necessarily a right or wrong decision, but it's important to make an educated decision and to know what their family's wishes are and their family to know their wishes.

We know that, God forbid, there are accidents every day.

And I think it's important to kind of have those conversations.

When I got my license at 17, I asked my parents, "Are you organ donors?"

And they said yes, so I said, "Okay," and I checked the box.

I never thought at 40 I'd be healthy and needing an organ within 24 hours, or I wasn't gonna make it.

Just, never in my realm of thought.

So I want them to be able to kind of make educated decisions for themselves and for their family members and to kind of understand what the process is and what it actually involves.

- What have been their reactions to your story?

- Surprise.

I think at work, you know, sometimes as an administrator and, as teenagers, and I felt the same way about my teachers and my assistant principals, it's kind of like you see them outside of school and oh, they're real people too.

- Right.

(laughs) - So to kind of know that when we tell them, like, treat each other with kindness, you don't know what other people are going home to.

People are always fighting a battle that you know nothing about.

So although I may look like I have it together and I have a great job and I have a great family, which I do, there's still this whole other side of me where every day I had to come to work sometimes and feel terrible.

But it was important that I showed up for myself, that I showed up for the students, and kind of I kept that attitude of positivity and resilience, 'cause I think that perseverance, we talk a lot about that in high school, but I think to kind of show up and be that for the students, I think has really been important.

- Being here today at the 5K, what does it mean, not just to you, but to your family and your team, Team Liver Big, especially your two young daughters, what is it like being here today with them?

- [Emily] It means everything to me.

This has become one of my favorite days of the year.

Everything here this morning is just so positive, and people come together in so many different ways.

And there's this whole transplant community that I really didn't know anything about three years ago.

So I've met so many people, and it turns out that my daughter's first-grade teacher is a part of a team, which I didn't know.

We ran into her here last year.

- Everyone's connected somehow.

They really are.

- Everyone is connected somehow, whether it's somebody that's had something that we would consider more common, like an ACL or an MCL surgery, and that's what I tell the high school students.

- Because they get the tissue donations.

We talked to some of those.

- Yes, absolutely.

Everyone is connected somehow, even when you don't realize it.

And now just sometimes the people that I've talked to, I ran into someone at work the other day and she said, "Hey, someone in my family's on a transplant list for a kidney."

I'm like, "Oh," and then it's like I speak this whole new language and have this whole new support network.

It means everything to me to be here today.

- What does the next couple years look like for you and moving forward with your life after such a really intense life-altering experience?

- Hopefully just more good health, continued happiness, more memories with my family.

I got so emotional at my daughter's preschool graduation and then kindergarten graduation last year, 'cause I kept thinking to myself, "I shouldn't be here.

Medically, I should not be here to see all this."

And the fact that I got to walk them into kindergarten, the fact that I've got to celebrate these milestones that I wasn't sure when I was lying in that hospital bed that I would make it to, it's meant everything to me.

So to continue to spread words of positivity and resilience and perseverance and handling things with just grit, but grace, and allowing myself to know that some days are tough, but the next day might be better.

So to just keep pushing forward and spreading that message, I think is so important.

- Thank you so much for spreading that message, for being here with us today to tell your story.

It's gonna impact so many other lives by doing that.

So thank you so much.

It was great to have you with us, Emily.

- Thank you for having me.

I'm so appreciative.

Thank you.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Kean University.

PSEG Foundation.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

The North Ward Center.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

And by New Brunswick Development Corporation.

Promotional support provided by NJBIA.

And by NJBIZ.

- (Narrator) Public service.

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We're committed to empowering communities.

We work hand in hand with you, our neighbors, to educate young people, support research, environmental sustainability and equitable opportunities, provide training and other services all over New Jersey and Long Island.

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