Antony's brave battle 'I'LL ALWAYS FIND A WAY'

A life-changing liver transplant has opened up a world of opportunities

- Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

Nola Vlatkovich will never forget the moment her son Antony called to say a liver was available and he needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible for transplant surgery. She was in the middle of a manicure. “I told the girls, ‘Stop the nails!’ and I was on my way,” remembers Nola, 66.

The life-changing November 2023 call came as the close-knit family were already juggling grief, distance and uncertainty.

Just two days earlier, Nola’s beloved 97-year-old mother Matija, the backbone of the family, had passed away. Her daughter Katija, now 39, who was often raised by her nana while Antony, now 38, was in and out of hospital as a child, had also just moved to Berlin.

Throughout everything, Nola’s thoughts turned to the donor’s family.

“I had to think of the other family who had lost somebody, but given my family life,” she says. “We don’t know who they are, but I still thank them every day.”

Eight hours later, Antony was wheeled in for surgery. “It was one of the most nerve-wracking times I’ve ever felt,” shares Antony, who was first diagnosed with a liver tumour at just three years old.

On the other side of the world, sister Katija woke up to 103 missed calls, with the shock news that her brother was undergoing an organ transplant and a long wait ahead to know the outcome.