Heart BEAT

Nostrant Gets New Liver

S

EATTLE -- When Dennis Nostrant received an urgent call on his dedicated "transplant" cell phone at 2 a.m. on Dec. 4, he learned he had six hours to make it from his home in Thronton, south of Spokane, to the University Medical Center in Seattle.

He had reason to be somewhat skeptical.

Three times over the previous months he had received similar calls from his medical coordinator at the center calling him in to be ready for a liver transplant only to be told that, for one reason or another, the surgery could not take place.

Each time it happened, he would be completely...