Ottawa man with terminal liver disease seeks living donor to survive
Philip Vanwissen, 59, has been told a transplant from a live donor is his only chance as he deteriorates from cirrhosis.
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Philip Vanwissen is running out of time. The 59-year-old OC Transpo driver has stage-four non-alcoholic cirrhosis — permanent scar tissue that has replaced healthy liver tissue and disrupted the organ's ability to filter toxins from his blood. His health collapsed in 2025 after a decade of slow decline, and doctors have told him his only realistic path to survival is a living liver donor.
Vanwissen was diagnosed in 2016 but initially scored too low on the transplant registry to qualify. He lived relatively normally for years, travelling with his wife Wendy Hayes, volunteering with Scouts Canada, and hiking in Gatineau Park. That changed dramatically last year when his liver decompensated — fluid now builds up in his abdomen and is drained every two weeks, restricting his lungs and making it difficult to speak and breathe deeply. Hayes has watched her husband's cognitive function deteriorate as toxins his liver can no longer filter accumulate in his body. "He's wasting away," she told the source. "He's skeletal, especially his face, at the temples, and at the cheeks."
When a Toronto surgeon informed Vanwissen he was finally sick enough to join the transplant waitlist, the news came with a stark alternative: a living donor. "Your living donor is your only chance at survival," the surgeon told him. The reality is brutal — 86 Canadians died waiting for a liver transplant in 2025, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Of 646 people currently on Canada's organ-donation waitlist needing livers, the wait can stretch years.
Unlike whole-organ donations from deceased donors, living-donor livers regenerate, allowing someone to donate a small portion of healthy tissue while retaining enough to live normally. Vanwissen is now actively searching for someone willing to undergo surgery to save his life. "It did fuel a fire to find a living donor, because I'm not ready to leave this earth yet," he said. "I want to spend more time with Wendy, I want to just get back to what I enjoy."
The facts
What is Philip Vanwissen's condition?
Philip Vanwissen, 59, has stage-four non-alcoholic cirrhosis, a disease where scar tissue has replaced healthy liver tissue and disrupted the organ's ability to filter toxins from his blood.
When was Vanwissen diagnosed with cirrhosis?
Vanwissen was diagnosed in 2016, though his health did not collapse until 2025 after a decade of slow decline.
Why does Vanwissen need a living donor rather than a deceased donor?
A Toronto surgeon told Vanwissen that a living donor is his only realistic chance at survival, as 86 Canadians died waiting for liver transplants in 2025 and waits for deceased-donor livers can stretch years. Living-donor livers regenerate, allowing a donor to give a portion of healthy tissue while retaining enough to live normally.
