Julianne "Montana" Vasichek grew up playing hockey. She was a Team USA defenseman, an All-American with UMD and a three-time NCAA champ at UMD; twice as a player and once as the Hockey Equipment Manager/Strength and Conditioning Coach.
So it was bad enough when she got sick in 2008 and it turned out to be a rare, incurable, and untreatable liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). When a blood clot in her ailing liver sent her into the hospital and from there to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, her friends came to say goodbye.
Almost miraculously, two days after she was placed on the transplant list she received a new liver. But that's a miracle that Vasichek never loses sight of.
Click here to read more about how you can register to be an donor - including living donations
Click here to read more about LifeSource, a on-profit organization that works with hospital and community partners to support donor families, manage the donation process and educate communities
Click here to read more about PSC and the organization that supports people living with it