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DEWART LAKE - After battling for his life for nearly a year, Aarron Busch, 47, Dewart Lake, returned home from the hospital and rehabilitation center for good on Feb. 9.
Busch contracted hepatitis C through a blood transfusion while in the army, which led to an partial liver transplant surgery July 17 at Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis.
Becky Tusing, Busch's sister, also of Dewart Lake, donated 60 percent of her liver to Busch.
Tusing was released from the hospital July 24 and recovered from the surgery quickly.
"Becky's doing fine. She's fully recovered," Busch said Thursday. "We're thankful that she went through it. She's healed up and back to work."
Busch wasn't as lucky as his sister.
Problems began after the initial surgery July 17.
"The surgery was successful," Busch said. "But it just didn't work. It worked for a while, but I started rejecting the liver."
Busch received a second liver transplant Nov. 29. This time the liver was a donor liver, instead of a live one.
"And that one's working," he said.
Busch spent from July 17 to Dec. 23 in the hospital and then two months in a rehabilitation center in Milford before finally coming home Feb. 9 "for good," his wife, Barbara, said.
Busch said the only problems he encounters now are "just the normal problems that transplant people have. You get tired," he said. "The body tells you when to stop working and rest. The doctor didn't want me to do anything for at least a year because I got a lot of body rebuilding to do."
Busch lost 100 pounds because of the transplants and has kept 80 pounds off, Barbara said.
He still takes some medications, but not as many as before.
"He used to take one at a time, five minutes between each one of them - about 10 of them," Barbara said.
"Yeah, there were some nasty tasting ones," Busch recalled.
"There were times that you just wanted to give up," he said. "But I wanted to live."
And that's what kept him going, he said.
Both Busch and his wife said the most trying aspect of the ordeal was waiting for answers from the doctors.
"They know what happens but they don't exactly know why, I guess. The body does weird things."
Advice Busch wanted to give to others who may find themselves in the same situation: "Have a positive attitude and talk to people that have had the transplant or are on the list or in support groups. And be patient," he said. "It's a long list."
Busch also said he "would like people to become donors. ... Sign your driver's license."
He and Barbara wanted to thank the community for the moral support, prayers and cards they've received.
Busch's transplant surgery was the second adult-to-adult liver transplant in Indiana.
"It's a new procedure. When you say 'new,' problems creep up," Busch said. "They'll get the procedure down and worked out to where it'll be a beneficial procedure. They've got great doctors and nurses (at I.U. Medical Center)," Busch said.
"It was a long haul. I'm not quite back to normal. It's going to be a long way to go," Busch said. "I"m glad to be home. It's nice to be home and be in my own bed."
