Jay’s Story

Site created on December 26, 2018

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place!


Jay has been dealing with autoimmune hepatitis and primary cirrhosis cholangitis for 22 years now.  In 2011 he was added to the liver transplant list at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and has since been in and out of the hospital on multiple occasions for infections in his biliary tract. 


Since April of this year, he has been earning exception points, which allows him to go higher on the transplant list. After recently praying with the church elders of Lebanon Evangelical Free Church, Jay felt more at peace with the possibility of a transplant in the near future. As of December 26, Jay earned more points to be moved up the transplant list, which puts him as the highest recipient in his blood group at Hershey Med. 


To continue along with us on this journey and for updates, please check out the updates (the first update was a pleasant Christmas surprise!) We appreciate your support and words of hope, prayers and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Donna Kleinfelter

Today marks 6 months since Jay received his new liver.... boy what a journey it’s been.  

He has been feeling fantastic, he has been exercising, eating well and trying to put some good weight back on.  He basically feels back to normal 🤗

We have definitely had some hiccups along the way.. it has not all been perfect.  Jay seems to get unexplained fevers every month since his transplant, which put him in the hospital (sometimes just a night and sometimes much longer) In May it was pretty scary I took him to the hospital, dropped him at the door and by the time I got in and asked to be taken to him they said I couldn’t see him, he was in a trauma room and I needed to wait in a family consult room.  He had a really high fever, rapid heart rate and was septic.  Let me tell you I was like what the heck happened from the door to check in... after they got me (45 mins later) they explained they worked on him so fast because of his heart rate.  They kept him in ICU for two days. His fever broke at the 24 hour mark, but they played it safe with keeping him in the better care unit for the 2nd night which did not make him happy. The doctors think that he gets these fevers because of the stent in his biliary tract that he needs to have for the first year.  They changed it out and placed two stents this time side by side.  We are hoping with the two it limits his hospital visits.

Though he has had hospital visits we are so grateful that there has been no signs of rejection!!


We feel so Blessed that we have had so many people in our life that cared for us throughout this whole process....by praying, calling, texting, making meals and visiting with us.  Jay asked me to sincerely thank the 100’s of prayer warriors, well wishers, encouragers, and meal preparers that have helped us in this journey.  

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