Foreign exchange: German student donates part of his liver to former host father in Regent Square

Eric Baysinger messaged a photo of himself hooked to an oxygen machine, plastic tubing in his nose, to help him breathe.

“This is my current situation,” Baysinger said.

The recipient of the picture, Mortiz Jahr, was 4,026 miles away. The minute he saw the image he asked what was wrong. Baysinger shared the story of his declining health and need for a liver transplant. If he didn’t get one, doctors told him, he would have two years to live, maximum.

That was March 21.

“Moritz immediately said, ‘I’ll do it,’ ” said Baysinger, tears in his eyes, as he sat at the table in his Regent Square dining room. “I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ I didn’t know what to say. It was such a beautiful gesture.”

Jahr lives in Kiel, Germany, but his deep connection to Baysinger spans more than a decade.

Baysinger was Jahr’s host father through a foreign exchange program. He lived with Baysinger and his husband, Kurt Summersgill, from August 2010 through June 2011.

“We met as strangers at an airport, and we became a loving family so much so that I was so sad when I left them at the airport to go home,” said Jahr, who attended Woodland Hills High School for a year. “We were a perfect match.”

Little did Jahr realize how perfect a match.

Baysinger was diagnosed with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an advanced form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, in 2013. His veins became enlarged, which blocked blood flow to his liver.

“When I think about that moment in my mind, I can’t really remember the exact conversation, but I do remember in my heart it just came out to tell Eric I wanted to do it,” Jahr said via a virtual call from Germany. “I have no regrets.”

Jahr, 27, donated 60% of his liver to Baysinger, 58, on July 19 at UPMC Montefiore in Oakland.

Jahr was released four days later. Baysinger spent five weeks in the hospital, including several in the intensive care unit, with complications and a blood clot.

The type of liver disease he has affects the lungs, and such patients can take longer to recover, according to Dr. Abhi Humar, chief of transplantation at UPMC, who performed the operation. UPMC has done more than 500 living liver donations.

During a living-donor transplant, a healthy adult can donate a portion of their liver to someone with end-stage liver disease. After the surgery, the donor’s liver will regenerate, or grow back, in a few months.

The late Dr. Thomas Starzl established the country’s first liver transplant program at UPMC 40 years ago.

In 2020, UPMC led the nation in living-donor liver transplants with 91. The hospital performed more living donor than deceased donor liver transplants.

Five percent of all transplants across the country are living donors. At UPMC, that number is 60%.

Humar said each operation he performs is “unique and special in its own way.”

Having Jahr in a different country made the logistics more complicated. But the ability of electronic medical records and having testing done overseas to help screen a donor makes the process smoother.

After the operation, there were ways for Humar to follow-up with Jahr via telemedicine.

Every donor has an extensive evaluation done and takes classes about what is involved. Each meets with members of the medical team.

“Both are doing well,” Humar said. “It is very gratifying to see these people — literally at death’s door and with a limited life span — improve. Sometimes almost overnight we can see a change. There are a lot of connections to people we have that we don’t realize that connect us for life. That is what happened with Eric and Moritz. These connections have a lasting impact.”

Jahr said he knows he saved Baysinger’s life.

“I know it’s a big thing, and a great gift, but I approach it like I believe 99% of people would have done the same thing,” Jahr said. “This is how I was raised. If someone needs something, you help them. We care about each other. It’s hard to describe.”

Jahr came to the U.S. through CIEE, a nonprofit, nongovernmental study-abroad and intercultural exchange organization. A neighbor of the couple was a volunteer local coordinator.

“I think Moritz felt extremely comfortable here from the beginning,” said Baysinger, who’s a native of Des Moines, Iowa. “It was like we adopted him for that year.”

Jahr said he has many memories of his time in Pittsburgh. He said attending Woodland Hills was a great experience.

“They were super nice and welcoming and made it easy for me to be there,” Jahr said. “I loved all the teachers and I got good grades. I didn’t see anything bad there.”

Jahr did things American teens do – from playing soccer to attending the Homecoming dance to catching a glimpse of the city from Mt. Washington.

Jahr said the only thing that’s bothering him is “the scar itches a little bit.”

He said he wants to help raise awareness about living liver donation. He did an “Ask Me Anything” through Reddit where he shared his story.

He recently received his master’s in education and began a substitute teaching job. Baysinger was a teacher for more than three decades, teaching German, Russian and Spanish; he most recently worked at the Pine-Richland School District.

Social media has allowed Jahr and Baysinger to stay in contact.

“It was a no-brainer to live with them when I came for the operation,” Jahr said. “And after the operation I was able to walk around the neighborhood to get my strength back.”

Baysinger taught him how to play Cribbage, a card game. The only time Jahr was able to beat Baysinger was when he was in the hospital – where he visited every day. Jahr also read to Baysinger from a book by author Ken Follett.

“I did it because I want them to be at my wedding and to meet my children and to be there for other events in my life,” Jahr said. “That experience is part of who I am today. They tell me I did so much for them. For me, it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. It wasn’t something I planned. Sometimes the things you don’t plan create the best memories because they just happen.”

Baysinger said he is feeling stronger each day. Having Jahr and his family, as well as Summersgill and their families, by his side has helped him through this challenging time, one he never planned for.

“Sometimes the best things that have happened to me have just happened,” Baysinger said. “I am glad I sent Mortiz the photo that day, though.”