When his liver failed, Don Waugh's friends stepped up

Don Waugh has an ambitious wish list. • "I want to climb Mount Fuji in Japan. I want to swim with the great white sharks. I want to go to Antarctica." • What he doesn't say, because it's understood, is that he wants a new liver even more.

The 40-year-old St. Petersburg man has autoimmune hepatitis, a form of liver inflammation, compounded by other medical problems. Early this year he was rushed to Tampa General Hospital, where he learned that his liver was failing.

His wife, Kim, documented his hospital stay in a green spiral notebook. She recorded every shift change, blood pressure reading, blood draw and doctor's discussion concerning Waugh, who is almost completely deaf.

A fierce advocate on his behalf, Kim had begun to help him navigate the process that could lead to a new liver when she died suddenly following a stroke. She was 38.

Friends have rallied to Waugh's aid, picking up where his wife left off. They are raising money to help cover expenses associated with the hoped-for transplant. Saturday they will hold a "Bad Prom Dress Car Wash,'' and on Aug. 8, they'll hold a benefit in Ybor City. They're also soliciting donations on a couple of websites.

Eve Naskale, 38, a Kenneth City software trainer who has known Waugh for about five years, initiated the effort.

"His family is up in New York and something needed to be done,'' she said.

More than $7,000 has been raised so far.

Waugh said he's "blown away'' by his friends' actions.

He tried to work while battling his illnesses, at one time working full time as a customer service representative and a part-time job at a Starbucks in Pinellas Park.

In February, he became very ill.

"I'd been feeling bad since August (2009). My stomach had swelled out to here,'' he said, extending his hand. "I was retaining so much fluid.''

At Tampa General, he said, "I was told by so many people, you need the transplant yesterday."

He posted a video on Facebook saying he was still alive and fighting.

"It weirded out my dad. He flew down. He thought I was going to die,'' Waugh said. Because he is nearly deaf, Waugh keeps in touch with his family and friends through texting, e-mail and Facebook.

He had met Kim at the Czar nightclub in Ybor City in August 2005. They married on April 1, 2006. "We wanted to give everyone something to laugh about,'' he said.

Pictures of the couple — he in a turquoise shirt, she in a white sundress — hang above the couch in the one-bedroom apartment they shared with Duffy, a Siamese cat, and Eggar Blue Waugh Esq., a Quaker parrot. Kim had a stroke in the apartment on April 17. She died the next day. The medical examiner said her death was due to complications from pneumonia. Her memorial was at Fort De Soto — where they had their first date. Kim's daughter, Autumn Nalepa, 18, moved in for a while.

Waugh's friend Naskale spoke of Kim's death in a fundraising appeal on brandnewliver.com, one of the websites set up to support Waugh. "No one would have been shocked if it was Don, but no one expected Kim to suddenly pass away. Now Don's main support is gone,'' she wrote.

During his February admission to Tampa General, Kim kept notes in neat, script-like handwriting. She listed medications, get well cards with modest sums of cash and the generosity of her husband's Starbucks colleagues.

After a doctor stopped by, she noted, "We browbeat her into giving us a rough estimate of how long D might have had to live if we hadn't come to the hospital — she said maybe two weeks. So grateful he was ready.''

A transplant is not imminent; Waugh hasn't yet made it to the transplant waiting list. Angie Korsun, transplant administrator for Tampa General, said qualifying can take weeks or months. "There are times that a transplant may occur within days or even weeks, but it is not unusual for it to take months from the time a person is placed on the national waiting list," she said.

Waugh, a patient at LifeLink Healthcare Institute in Tampa, is learning how the process works.

"They told us what people's lives are like before and after and, of course, they have good stories, and I hope Don is one of those,'' said Naskale, who accompanied him to an informational class.

"I just stay positive and keep knowing it'll happen,'' Waugh said.

Waveney Ann Moore can be reached at wmoore@sptimes.com.