When Julie Kane’s infant son, Connor Okruhlica, needed a liver transplant in 1997, her family traveled from Kentucky to Omaha for the life-saving procedure. 

The family faced a difficult journey, but the kindness and generosity they experienced along the way left a lasting impact. Nearly three decades later, they continue to help other families facing similar challenges.

Connor's story

Okruhlica was born prematurely in 1996. At 5 weeks old, he underwent surgery to correct reflux. Complications led to an obstructed bowel, requiring doctors to remove three-quarters of his small intestine.

“At 8 months, we were told that his liver numbers were affected,” Kane says. Doctors recommended the family travel to Omaha to be evaluated for a transplant. However, his condition deteriorated rapidly.

“Within two months, they decided it was so critical that we needed to consider a living donor,” Kane says.

Kane’s sister, Jen Howard, became Okruhlica’s donor. In September 1997, at 10 months old, Okruhlica received a partial liver transplant from transplantation surgeon Alan Langnas, MD.

At age 7, Okruhlica was diagnosed with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, a form of lymphoma. Doctors removed him from anti-rejection medication – which many transplant patients must take for their entire lives – to undergo chemotherapy. Since then, Okruhlica, now 29, has remained healthy and never needed to resume the medication. 

While his aunt gave him the gift of life, countless others provided Okruhlica’s family with critical support in Omaha. They included local friends and family and his Nebraska Medicine care team.

“Everybody wanted to help,” Kane says. “We had an incredible village surrounding us.”

Helping others in need

The family’s experience inspired them to help others. In the late 1990s, the Connor Okruhlica Children’s Foundation was established and received referrals from Nebraska Medicine social workers to help families in need. Recently, the foundation partnered with the University of Nebraska Foundation to create the Nebraska Medicine Connor Okruhlica Pediatric Transplant Patient Assistance Fund.

The fund provides assistance that insurance doesn’t cover. It has paid for rent and utilities, gas cards, meal cards and travel expenses.

“We try to make it easy on families and easy for the medical team to access the money,” Kane says.

The fund operates with minimal requirements, allowing social workers to quickly provide support without lengthy applications.

“You just want to focus on the health of your child, but there are so many other things that you’re trying to keep up with,” Kane says.

For Kane, the fund connects families who understand the transplant experience.

“I hope that they know that there are people who care about them and want to help make things just a bit easier during an incredibly difficult time,” she says.

Kane has a message for those considering supporting the fund.

“You may not know the impact that you are having on a family,” she says. “But from somebody who’s been there, it is so greatly appreciated.”