Retired CEO Paul Stull Receives Life-Saving Liver Transplant

More than a week ago, Paul Stull was near death as his end-stage liver disease worsened.

In July 2021, about a week after retiring as president/CEO of the Credit Union Association of New Mexico, the 64-year-old Stull received a grim diagnosis when doctors said he had only a year to live. Because of his declining health, he had to be hospitalized several times over recent months. Most recently, his liver disease began attacking his kidneys.

Stull’s only hope was a liver transplant.

“On Friday of last week [July 22], I was shocked when my phone rang and it was the transplant team [Denver-based UC Health] and they had a liver for me,” Stull said. “I had to be in the hospital in less than an hour.” Fortunately, Stull had already moved into a Denver-area apartment, so that he could arrive at the hospital at a moment’s notice.

“I was told it could take 10 to 12 hours, and if it went smoothly, I would have a new and extended lease on life,” he said. “I can report that my transplant team was able to turn a 10-to-12-hour operation into just five hours. They used a new technique that circulated blood into the deceased donor liver and as a result an amazing outcome took place. The new program they used, under the direction of Dr. Kendra Conzen, delivered to me the fourth ever lifesaving surgery.”

According to UC Health, it conducted the first liver transplant in the world in 1967. Since then, the hospital said it has performed thousands of liver transplants in adults and children from all over the nation. UC Health reported it also performed the first adult living liver transplant in 1997.

Stull recovered from surgery in about six days and was discharged on Thursday, July 28.

“Before leaving the hospital I was part of a ceremony to ring the transplant bell, marking a new life launched through the skilled, caring and talented doctors, nurses, staff and technicians at the University of Colorado, who literally saved my life,” Stull said. “From last Friday to this Thursday was a complete change for me. I now spend a lot of time contemplating how such a surreal change has made my life a list of amazing possibilities and no longer a check list of how little time I would have.”

While waiting and hoping for a transplant, Stull reached out to CU Times in May to publicly discuss his health crisis and to raise awareness about the need for living donors who would be willing to donate part of their liver so that others can live. Anyone who is in good health and undergoes a battery of tests can donate a portion of their liver to a transplant patient. The liver is the only organ in the body that regenerates itself, which means it grows back in the donor and in the body of the transplant patient.

“I was able to find two people who started the evaluation process to determine if they would be a good match,” Stull said “So your [CU Times’] help in spreading the word was outstanding. Even though my donor was deceased, I will forever be humbled by people who reached out to donate in any way possible.”

Most U.S. donated livers come from deceased donors, while a smaller number of transplants are performed using living donors, according to the American Liver Foundation in West Orange, N.J. There are more than 14,000 persons in the U.S. on the waiting list for a liver transplant. Although 8,000 liver transplant surgeries are performed annually, ALF said there are too few deceased donor livers and living donors, which means many people die while waiting for a liver transplant.

“We are lucky to live in a world where people helping people can resonate from the transplant team to credit union staffers all over the country that shined a very bright light on organ donation,” Stull said.

Although he will remain in Denver for a few months so that doctors can monitor his recuperation progress, Stull hopes he will be given the all-clear to return to New Mexico by Thanksgiving.

“It seems right to me because I have much to be thankful for this year,” he said.