By EMS1 Staff
KENT COUNTY, Del. — A paramedic with a chronic liver disease has received an outpouring of support while in critical condition awaiting a liver transplant.
Paramedic Nick LaBrie has lived with autoimmune hepatitis since childhood, according to Kent County News, and was on life support last week. After regaining consciousness on Friday, LaBrie discovered that community members had donated more than $25,000 to a GoFundMe fundraiser titled “A paramedic’s own emergency,” set up by his younger sister, Michelle LaBrie Matthews.
“He now knows how much has been raised and how many people have supported him. He is humbled,” Matthews wrote in a GoFundMe update. “Here’s hoping the good news keeps coming. Our family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts.”
In addition to GoFundMe fundraiser, LaBrie has received support from his colleagues at the Kent County Levy Court Department of Emergency Services in Delaware, who have donated their paid leave time.
“As soon as we knew Nick was in trouble, that’s when the rallying started,” said Mike Clarke, LaBrie’s supervisor. “It was just a natural reaction from people in the department and in the rest of the county from people in other agencies.”
Matthews said on GoFundMe that LaBrie is still on the waitlist for a liver. In her update Friday, she mentioned that her brother had medical staff “cracking up” after correcting a nurse about a high-flow nasal cannula.
“He was, in fact, correct about the high-flow cannula – he said he didn’t need it, and he didn’t,” she said.