Alison Cubbellotti, RN, was only nine years old when doctors told her family that she had a rare liver disease that would eventually claim her life unless she received a transplant.
Today – thanks to a living donor and the surgical team of the Yale New Haven Transplantation Center (YNHTC) – Cubbellotti is not only healthy and happy, she’s paying back her gratitude as a nurse on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Bridgeport Hospital, which is part of Yale New Haven Health.
She is also acutely aware of her good fortune during April, which is Donate Life Month.
“The incredible thing about transplant is that not only did my donor save my life, but now, because of that, I’ve been able to care for and save the lives of thousands of sick and premature babies, and that’s pretty incredible. The gift of life is the gift that gives over and over.”
Cubbellotti’s journey began when her parents took her to the doctor for her chronic sickness as a child. Blood tests revealed elevated liver enzymes. Then, a liver biopsy identified her disease: Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, or PSC.
What is Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis?
PSC is a rare, chronic and progressive liver disease characterized by inflammation, scarring and obstruction of the bile ducts. The obstruction causes the build-up of bile which leads to cell damage in the liver, eventually leading to cirrhosis and ultimately liver failure.
Doctors estimated that, within 10 years, nine-year-old Alison Cubbellotti would need a transplant to stay alive.
Cubbellotti was also diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which is often related to liver disease. Her childhood included countless tests and trips to see specialists. “My parents tried to keep my life as normal as possible, but you can’t really do that when you have a diagnosis like this,” Cubbellotti said. “I missed out on a lot of things in my childhood, like sleepovers and trips that I wasn’t well enough to go on.”
Nonetheless, she persevered, and made it through high school. She graduated and enrolled in the nursing program at Sacred Heart University. However, a decade had passed since her diagnosis, and the doctor’s predictions were correct.
“My first week at Sacred Heart I was hospitalized with the first sign of liver failure,” she said. “I had pleural effusions, which is fluid developing around your lungs. I was finding it challenging to breathe. That’s what happens when your liver is failing. Your albumin levels are supposed to keep fluid in your cells, but my albumin was so low that fluid in my cells was coming out into places where it didn’t belong.”
Cubbellotti somehow managed to complete her freshman year of college, but “as time went on, things got progressively worse,” she said. “I attempted to go back my sophomore year, but I had to withdraw. I eventually got to the point where I was so sick that I really couldn’t get out of bed.”
Beyond the physical reality of her illness, Cubbellotti also saw her dream to be a nurse slipping away. “One of the hardest parts was watching the world going on around me and I was just stuck in this place of waiting,” she recalled.
The need for living donors
There are thousands of people on the national waiting list for a liver transplant, and the wait can be upwards of two years. In Cubbellotti’s case, doctors told her that she’d never make it to the top of the list in time; she would need to find a living donor to save her life.
Yale New Haven’s Center for Living Organ Donors is a program that arranges for kidney and liver transplants from living donors. The program provides a wide spectrum of care throughout the donation process and, afterwards, with a lifetime medical and social monitoring related to donation.
“At Yale, living donor liver transplantation represents the highest expression of our mission,” said Hiroshi Sogawa, MD, surgical director of Liver Transplantation and a professor of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. “We encourage living donors to come forward because, through their empathy and selflessness, we can push the boundaries of what is possible. By expanding access to living donation, we are not only advancing surgical excellence but fundamentally transforming how we save lives – moving from scarcity-driven care to proactive, patient-centered innovation.”
Evaluation for liver transplant is a comprehensive process conducted by a multidisciplinary team to ensure that the potential candidate will be a suitable recipient, capable of handling the transplant operation successfully and “having the best possible outcome,” according to Michael L. Schilsky, MD, medical director, Adult Liver Transplant, Yale New Haven Transplantation Center and professor of Medicine and Surgery, Yale School of Medicine.
At first, it appeared Cubbellotti’s brother was going to be the living donor she needed. However, as the transplant operation began, surgeons determined that the vascular configuration of her brother’s liver posed a risk of fatal blood loss. The surgeons stopped the operation before removing her brother’s liver, and Cubbellotti was again facing a dire situation.
With time running out, Cubbellotti’s mother sent an email blast to everyone she knew, asking for a donor. The email landed in the inbox of the president of Sacred Heart University, who asked if he could share it with the student body. It was the fall of 2009 when an anonymous donor – a student at the university – proved to be a match.
“At first, this potential donor, a college senior, being thoughtful of how many classes he might miss, asked if the surgery could wait until Thanksgiving break,” Cubbellotti said. “My surgeon said to him, ‘She may not survive until then; we need to do this as soon as possible.’” The operation, which lasted more than 10 hours, took place at Yale New Haven Hospital on Oct 19, 2009.
Success!
Cubbellotti said she felt better almost immediately. Suddenly her joints were no longer hurting. She learned that the donor was also successfully recovering. “I thought that maybe one day I could write him a letter,” she said, “although I never thought I’d find out who he was.”
But one day, as both donor and recipient were still recovering at Yale New Haven Hospital, a group of nurses gathered outside Cubbellotti’s door. “I could tell they were really excited and happy,” she said. “I was like, ‘Guys, what’s going on?’ I could tell they were bursting with something. And then they told me: ‘Your donor wants to meet you!’ I said, ‘Oh, god, ok! When?’ And they said, ‘Now!’”
Cubbellotti was flabbergasted. She didn’t know what to say or do. “What do you say to the person who just saved your life?” she said. “Thank you doesn’t seem like enough.”
The donor, John, who prefers to stay out of the limelight, was transported to the side of Cubbellotti’s bed in a wheelchair. “I just took his hand,” she said. “My parents hugged his parents – and we all just cried.”
Donor and recipient became friends. Cubbellotti attended John’s wedding. And when Alison finally earned her nursing degree and graduated from Sacred Heart, John walked her across the stage as she received her diploma. The audience knew the story, and “the entire arena gave us a standing ovation,” Cubbellotti said. “I just looked around and I thought what an incredible story we’re sharing.”
Today, John and Alison still keep in touch, like family, but they are also busy living their individual lives. For Cubbellotti, that means spending time with her niece and nephews, counting her many blessings – and caring for babies in the NICU at Bridgeport Hospital.
“I’m in my dream job,” she said. “I love the babies. It is such a gift for me to be able to be there. I feel so honored to be a nurse. I feel like God chose me to care for these babies, and none of this would have happened without John’s gift of life.”
Cubbellotti always wondered why a complete stranger would do such a thing for another person, but she said John did provide an answer. He said to her: “If this was happening to my little sister and no one could help, I would want someone to step up, so that’s what I did.”
Yale New Haven Hospital performed 40 liver transplants in 2025, not to mention 114 kidney transplants and 15 heart transplants – each one providing new life to others just like Cubbellotti.
“Of course,” Cubbellotti said, “sometimes, now, I get caught up in my life and you get lost in things and you might not be thinking about it all the time, but, whenever I have a moment; whenever I step back and think about all that’s happened, it’s just unbelievable. The lifesaving care at this health system where I work – and what John and entire transplant team did for me – it’s just… Wow!”
