Former MLB pitcher finds liver donor in high-school classmate he hadn’t seen in 20 years

A man’s plea for a liver donor on Facebook caught the attention of a former high school acquaintance he hadn’t been in touch with for 20 years. In April 2024, Steven Register, a 42-year-old former MLB pitcher, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer after experiencing significant weight loss. Doctors advised him that a liver transplant was his best chance for survival. When plans for liver resection were canceled due to large tumors, Register’s wife created a Facebook group to find a living liver donor. Kristin Johnston, a preschool teacher from Georgia and a former high school classmate of Register, volunteered to donate part of her liver after seeing the post. She turned out to be a match, and the surgery is expected to give both a second chance at good health. The families involved believe that fate played a role in bringing them back together and hope that the transplant will be successful.