PAYSON, Utah — Natalie Stika thought she may have had COVID-19 when she became very sick back in July 2020, only to learn it was something much worse.
"They did an upper scope and a colonoscopy and could see that I had a tumor, one single, very large tumor in my sigmoid colon, so with the blood work and [the doctor] was certain that it was colon cancer," recalled Stika.
Diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, Stika's prognosis was grim, given just 3-5 years to live. While she was able to have the infected portion of her colon removed, the cancer had metastasized in her liver.
"This talk of transplant was kind of out there and you want to hope on it," she said.
A lifeline came from Natalie Simons, a friend of Stika's for two decades..
"November or December of '22, when she finally got the OK, that this was the plan was to do be a living, find a living donor," said Simons.
As an endoscopy nurse at Mountain View Hospital, Simons deals with procedures like colonoscopies on a daily basis. As Stika put out fliers looking for a potential living donor, Simons decided to get tested to see if she could be a match.
Almost a year ago, doctors gave her the answer.
"They said that I was a match," she said. "I was a good match for her."
Simons took that news and delivered it to her longtime friend.
"to have her sit with me and tell me that everything had worked out, then it hits you that, it's gonna happen and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else," Stika remembered.
Within a month of the match, the transplant was completed at Intermountain Medical Center.
"I remember thinking when I wake up, if I wake up I'll know that it's done and I'll know that it's OK," she shared.
In all, Simons donated 65% of her liver to Stika.
"I walked to Natalie's room and that, sorry, I'm going to cry again, that was just awesome to see her," said Simons, nearly a year after the procedure.
The operation showed the importance of living organ donations.
"The most amazing thing with a live donation is that you get to see the person," said Simons, "you get to see their recovery, you get to see, oh my, I'm a part of her, I'm a part of that."
"With a living donor, I have not only the gift of life that pulled me out of that but to be cancer-free and can look forward to a lot of life ahead of me," Stika said.
A life ahead includes plenty of warm embraces and an experience that has brought the two women, whose lives had already been intertwined for two decades, that much closer together.
"We will always be connected, so it's awesome," said Simons.
"She's an incredible person to have done that," Stika added.
Next month marks one year since the successful transplant. Stika says her last scan was all clear and she hopes to keep it that way.
