Kieron Dyer gives open and powerful chat on his successful liver transplant

Former footballer turned coach Kieron Dyer gives open and powerful chat live on Sky Sports on his successful liver transplant.

The 44 year old, who spent nearly all of his playing career in the Premier League, had a life-saving liver transplant just 11 weeks ago, and now he is relishing his second chance at life having previously felt ill and broken.

Now he is sharing his experience of suffering from the rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis.

“I was grateful for my family” ❤️

A powerful and open chat with Kieron Dyer following his successful liver transplant. pic.twitter.com/11NeVCnmjg

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) December 10, 2023

Dyer: “I had a liver transplant three months ago. My liver basically packed in. I was in a real bad way, was in hospital for a long period of time. Someone had to die to keep me alive, which is the brutal truth. It’s quite overwhelming, to use them words. But the transplant was a success. It was twelve weeks ago, just over twelve weeks ago, and I’m doing really well, so the future is bright.”

Presenter Tom White: “How scary is. I knew that you weren’t well. I didn’t actually realise just how serious it was. I didn’t realise that you were in hospital for that time and just kind of waiting. How hard is that for you and also for your family as well?”

Dyer: “Yeah. Mentally, it was so demanding. The amount of false alarms you have where you think you’ve got a liver and then the liver is either too big or it’s too fatty or it’s been damaged. So then you have to go through the whole process again. Mentally, it’s really challenging. And I was grateful for my family because it’s quite a trek to get to Adam Brooks in Cambridge from Ipswich. It’s a three hour return trip and I had four or five people there every day by my side, so I’ll always be grateful for that.”

“When I first got diagnosed with the disease, they said it would be three to six months for me to get a liver. Then you have to stay within an hour of the hospital. You can’t leave. You’ve got to have your phone on you at all times, because if you miss the phone call, then you miss the liver. That’s how serious it is. So, yeah, the waiting game is your life gets put on hold, but it’s worth it in the world.

“I had a liver problem in 2002, but with this specific disease, I had PSC. I was diagnosed in 2019. So like you said, I had the liver transplant in 2023. So when they said in 2019 that it’ll be three to six months, this is how long it took. So you’re always on edge. But like I said, there was a great story at the end and I’m doing really well and I’m back to work.”

Presenter Tom White: “And great that you are back to work. You were telling me earlier about how sometimes the hallucinations that you were having and you actually had a hallucination, that the doctor would come in and said, we found someone.

Dyer: “Yeah. So basically, because your liver is so damaged, all the toxins that your liver produces, it goes to your brain and you start to have hallucinations. So every morning when the doctors come and do the rounds, the doctor came up to me and said that we found you a donor. We’re going to get you prepped for theater. Today’s the day. So he goes off to do the rest of the rounds and I ring my missus straight away. They found me a liver. It’s going to happen today. You need to get to the hospital. So she’s ecstatic. Over the moon, obviously, it’s a scary operation, but finally, for me to get the transplant, everyone’s ecstatic. She tells my mum, she tells everybody. And then something weren’t sitting right with her. She was like, they said they would call me straight away if they hear news, and I haven’t heard nothing. So she rang up the ward and the ward said, what are you talking about? So the doctor had to come back to me and say, Kieran, why did you just tell your missus that? And I said, you did tell me. I was arguing. You just told me that I’m going to have. And he was like, no, that’s the toxins. You’re having a hallucination. And I had so many hallucinations in the three months where you’re just imagining things and just making stuff up.

“When you first come out of hospital, you have regular blood checks every week. You go to see them every week and they adjust your medication according to your bloods. My bloods are doing so well. My medications dropped. I now go to see them once every month. That will then go to once every three months and then hopefully once every year. So I’m ahead of schedule. And like I said, the future is very bright for me at the moment.”

You can listen to a more detailed account about his experience by clicking HERE.

Social media users expressed delight for Kieron Dyer as he gives an open and powerful chat on his successful liver transplant…

@MackemLoopyLisa: Amazing news, being given the gift the gift of life. Priceless. When my brother died 13 year ago my parents made the decision to donate his organs, 4 people got to live through him. It didnt help our loss but made us so proud 💙

@TheCorkCockney: I played with Kieron when I was at Ipswich Town. Always a top kid, knew he would be pro, a real natural gifted talent. So happy he’s on the mend. We have the same birthday.

@kevosullivan07: This really shows how important it is to be a donor and carry the card. Have the conversation with your loved ones about what you want to happen if you die. You literally save lives. Really happy for Kieron and his family.

@DarrenJ78598146: @tomwhitemedia wow that chat with Kieron dyer was emotional for me being a Newcastle fan. Pass him on my congratulations on his on going recovery. Hopefully we see him back coaching again soon and back at St James park

@WhatTheFalkPod: Really scary hearing Kieron Dyer’s story on @SkyFootball. Pleased to see he is well and healing.

@bison5: The Kieron Dyer story is worth listening to. #livertransplant. “Someone had to die for me to live”. Scary but that’s a lot of people’s reality. #humbling

@DwGeordie: Stay strong

@TerryAt78294838: Pleased for the fella, good luck Kieron

@juliehaffner: This is amazing….. i loved watching Kieron play… always a big fan…. So happy to see him back on telly and healthy…. 💙👍🏻

@MitchT1998: So happy for Kieron & pleased to see him looking well. My favourite Newcastle player as a kid so I’ll always have a soft spot for him ♥️.