BOSTON — In honor of National Donor Day, a day to raise awareness about life-saving donations, a local priest is sharing his story about liver donation to inspire others to do the same.
“Love is really the giving of oneself to another, and the act of a liver donation is an act of true love because you’re literally giving a part of your life to save someone else’s life,” Father Damian Delane said.
Delane’s selflessness is carrying him through life.
Back in 2018, his friend and running companion, Xochilt Jimenez, became ill and needed a new liver.
“Here I am, her best friend, I at least have to try to donate,” Delane said.
Crazy enough, Delane was a match for Jimenez, but once it came time for surgery, his friend’s health was improving.
“Her liver function improved to the point where they didn’t need to do a transplant,” Delane explained.
However, Delane had already gone through the process of becoming a donor and still wanted to help.
Six months later, doctors found a match for him - a 30-year-old woman named Breana Shaw.
At the time, Shaw was a complete stranger to Delane.
“It was surreal,” Delane said.
The surgeries were successful for both Shaw and Delane.
It took Delane a little over two months to recover, but it was all worth it.
“I wanted to put a name and a face to my act,” he said.
A few months after the donation and transplant happened in December of 2018, the two got the chance to meet.
“It was nice to be able to meet the person and have a connection with that person,” Delane continued.
Within the same year, Delane went on to run a marathon and a 100-mile ultramarathon.
In April of this year, he will run the Boston Marathon with the American Liver Foundation, also known as ALF.
Now, Delane wants to let others know it’s more than possible to live a healthy life after donation.
“I feel like I can be an ambassador and tell people, if you’re presented with the opportunity or the dilemma of having to donate an organ to save someone, maybe it’s a family member, that you can do it and still live a healthy, active life,” Delane said.
Back in October of 2025, ALF launched a living donor network to help increase liver transplants.
Currently, there are over 9,000 people waiting on a liver transplant in the United States.
If you’re interested in learning more about liver donation, you can go to liverdonornetwork.org.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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