LARGO, FL – Walking to the fifth floor of the HCA Florida Largo Hospital in Nicole Buckingham, you will soon see Stephanie Alsultan, an ICU transplant nurse who helped save her life.
“I'm almost crying, you look very good,” said Al Sultan.
“Don't cry,” Buckingham said.
The two women hug, laugh and cry for almost two minutes. More nurses then head to Buckingham and more embraces are given.
“That makes a lot of sense and you probably won't be told how much we think of you,” Buckingham told the nurse. “You really inspired me, you really changed their lives, you really changed my life.”
Buckingham left the hospital three months ago after the liver transplant.
“We had pictures of you guys and the kids. We had pictures of our families,” recalls Kiko McGrath, an ICU transplant nurse at HCA Florida Largo Hospital. “Then I decided she had to go back to her family. She has to get better.”
In October 2024, just before two consecutive hurricanes hit the Tampa Bay Area, Buckingham remembers not feeling well. However, due to the storm, she was seeking a doctor's appointment.
Her best friend, Megan Elmore, immediately called one day and knew something was wrong. The phone was so concerned about her that she decided to come and when she saw Buckingham she knew she had to take her to the nearest emergency room. Shortly after we arrived, Buckingham was in a coma.
“Looking back at it now, they were all about my liver symptoms,” Buckingham said.
She had total liver failure.
“She was very sick. So she was the kind of person we didn't really expect to live there,” said Dr. James Eason, transplant director at HCA Florida Largo Hospital. “In fact, she was very sick. We were worried that we wouldn't even live long enough to get a transplant.”
Eason and his team pulled up a scan of Buckingham's liver, which shrunk, had nodule and showed signs of cirrhosis. It also had a liquid surrounding it.
“She was asking for dialysis, and when she came in, she was really totally on life support,” Eason said.
Buckingham's family and friends tried to put her on the transplant list, but several hospitals in the state refused her. One reason is that alcohol played a role in liver failure.
However, the transplant team at HCA Florida Largo Hospital saw her survival potential and got her well for the transplant. She then went on the transplant list at the beginning of the year and received her new liver on January 3rd.
Buckingham said there is a history of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), in which liver fat accumulation leads to inflammation and damage. Even though she knew this, she admitted to taking part in regular social drinking.
Eason said alcohol affects people in many ways, but that's a toxin.
“This is a real variable, how much is needed for some people to develop liver failure,” Eason said. “Some people drink a lot and don't have liver breakdowns, some drink what we think, but that will continuously damage the liver.”
Buckingham doesn't realize that drinking has become a regular part of her life, so she feels it reminds her of guilt.
“With what became society and Covid, it became more everyday,” Buckingham said. “I went home and put some wine in it and that became a habit.”
Now, with her new liver, things are different. She is completely embraced with this new opportunity in life.
“Your face is filled and you're starting to get your guns,” joked Eason.
“I'm starting, my colour is back,” Buckingham said with a smile.
She will continue to be monitored with her new liver in the future.
April is Donation Life Month. Up to eight organs and tissues can be born from one person's donation.
HCA Florida Largo Hospital It is the only transplant center in Pinellas County.
