'I Almost Died of Liver Failure at Age 50—This Is the First Sign I Wish I'd Paid Attention To'

"Zero-proof drinks," "Dry January" and "Sober October" have become social media buzzwords in recent years.

Unlike some social media trends out there, rethinking our relationship with alcohol could help curb another alarming trend: the rising toll of alcohol-related cirrhosis or liver scarring. Untreated over time, cirrhosis can lead to liver failure and death.

One study from 2018 showed that deaths from alcohol-related cirrhosis consistently ticked up between 2009 and 2016.

Then the pandemic hit, and research shows it made things worse, particularly in the first year (2020). One man knows that all too well, as he had to stop drinking that year after being diagnosed with alcohol-induced cirrhosis at the age of 50.

"If I didn't stop, I wouldn't be able to get onto the [transplant] list, be able to see a new donor or even just even live," said Kenneth Ferrucci, now 54, who lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Ferrucci is not alone. Around 98,000 people ages 12 and older died from liver disease in 2022, and alcohol was involved in 46% of those cases.

Ferrucci did live, and now he's telling his story, including sharing the symptoms he wishes he'd flagged ASAP.

Related: 6 Major Things That Happen to Your Body if You Stop Drinking Alcohol

The No. 1 Red Flag Ferrucci Wishes He Noticed Before Almost Dying of Liver Failure

Ferrucci wished he noticed how tired and worn out he looked. "I looked horrible," he shares. "I had been doing Zoom calls and interviews...When I see myself and how I looked, I was like, 'Oh my God. That was only a couple of months before I was in the emergency room.'"

Ferrucci also remembers feeling lightheaded and bloated. "What I didn't realize was I was getting my sodium level dangerously low," Ferrucci explains.

Sodium is an essential electrolyte; the liver helps the body maintain appropriate levels. Research from 2023 points to data that abnormally low sodium levels in advanced liver cirrhosis are linked with poor outcomes.

One reason  Ferrucci didn't know his sodium levels were low was that he had been avoiding blood tests. However, when his primary care doctor retired, his new one insisted he get one. The physician also required an ultrasound of his abdomen.

"I went and got both," Ferrucci says. "She called me on a Friday and said, 'You need to go to the emergency room. When can you go? Can you go today?'"

Ferrucci told her he had to work. "I was actually drinking that day," he admits. "I went Saturday morning, and that's when they admitted me."

Related: This Is the #1 Most Important Habit for Liver Health, According to a Hepatologist

A Long Road to Recovery

Ferrucci's hospital admission was the first of many he'd have over the next four years as doctors worked to get his liver disease under control. In July of 2020, he spent a week there as they drained fluids, a common theme in his journey to recovery.

"I ended up having several hundred gallons of fluids drained over the next two years," he says.

During weekly paracentesis treatments (abdominal taps to remove fluids), Ferrucci had anywhere from three to eight liters of fluid drained. At times, Ferrucci's sodium levels were so low that he collapsed from weakness. He developed restless leg syndrome that was so bad it made it nearly impossible to sleep. He broke his hip and developed avascular necrosis, which occurs when bone tissues die as a result of blood flow loss.

"What I didn't realize at that time was how much hell I was going to go through," Ferrucci shares.

One thing he did know? "I knew I was going to need a new liver," Ferrucci says. "When they told me that, I wasn't surprised."

Finding a Match

Ferrucci credits the doctors at Hartford Hospital for keeping him alive, even during his lowest points, physically and mentally. During a stay in a skilled nursing facility for avascular necrosis, Ferrucci decided he was going to fight.

"I was going to do whatever I could to beat this," Ferrucci explains.

That involved working with Yale Medicine to find a living donor, a process that began in the summer of 2022. That fall, he was listed.

Ferrucci began working with Yale in the summer of 2022. He posted his story on the Yale donor app and social media, and he created cards and posters to publicize his need for a new liver. On Memorial Day Weekend of 2023, he got a call from Yale Medicine that they had found a potential match. The donor committee, including surgeons and hepatologists, had to approve it.

They did. On January 30, Ferrucci received a new liver with Yale organ transplant physicians Doctors Sidharth Sharma, MD, and David Mulligan, MD, serving as the surgeons.

Ferrucci says he was out of intensive care "fairly quickly" and home a week after his surgery. However, his bile ducts (which carry bile from the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine) had a leak, so he had to go back to the hospital for treatment that included having stents inserted. He also developed a pseudomonas infection, which prompted his team to remove the stents just in case.

Related: 'I Almost Died of a Heart Attack at 48—This Is the First Symptom I Wish I'd Paid Attention To'

'Full Throttle' Ahead

Despite some initial hurdles, Ferrucci is alive and healthy today. "I have to tell you, I feel great," he says. "I feel like I'm going full throttle now, just moving forward, which is really good."

Ferrucci recently flew to Chicago to see friends for the first time since 2020, the year he was diagnosed. And his new liver is holding up just fine.

"The way the liver regenerates—it's basically my liver," Ferrucci explains. "I had the right lobe of somebody's liver, and that has now regenerated into a fully functioning liver inside me."

Ferrucci intends to treat his liver—and body and mind—right this time around. He hasn't had a craving for alcohol since his diagnosis, however, he's still doing the just in case which includes maintaining a relationship with the addiction treatment center The Rushford Center and finding community.

"Although I don’t have cravings or any desires, I find it positive to be in some groups occasionally," Ferrucci says. "I choose between a 'smart recovery' group and a mindfulness session, which includes mediation and sound therapy."

Next up: 'I'm a 99-Year-Old Professional Poker Player—Here's Exactly What I Do to Keep My Mind Sharp' 

Sources

• Mortality due to cirrhosis and liver cancer in the United States, 1999-2016: observational study. BMJ.

• Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease Mortality Increased From 2017 to 2020 and Accelerated During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

• Alcohol and the Human Body. NIAA. 

• Kenneth Ferrucci of Connecticut, a man who received a liver transplant

• Evidence-based hyponatremia management in liver disease. Clinical and Molecular Hepatology.