Beach Happy

October 2023

Glenn Carless wants to recover near the Gulf of Mexico.

“To be on the beach and enjoy our warm Gulf waters, that’s my dream now,” said Glenn, 57. “I can’t think of a better way to spend my days than out on the beach and getting therapy from the calm Gulf waters. That, and I wanted to see my daughter, Sierra, graduate from college.”

Until recently, Glenn wouldn’t have dared dream about his future or make plans with Michelle, his wife of 32 years, and their children, Sierra, 28, and Alex, 23. He was too busy trying to survive long enough to get a liver transplant.

“That’s how sick I was,” he said.

A serious bout of food poisoning in his twenties and years of social drinking took a toll on Glenn’s health, leading doctors to diagnose him with cirrhosis and eventually liver failure. At one point, he gave up on getting well. That he survived at all is a wonder, and his message to others is enjoy life and be mindful of what we do to our bodies.

Glenn spent a great deal of his twenties and thirties hanging out in coastal towns along Virginia’s East Coast. He and his family enjoyed a carefree lifestyle for many years, including riding jet skis in the Atlantic Ocean in Southeast Virginia.

During that time, Michelle worked as a nurse. Glenn ran the family business. They labored and played until their kids went off to college.

“We moved to Florida from Virginia in September 2019 after Hurricane Michael, with hopes of helping to rebuild the community,” said Michelle, who currently works in the cardiac catheterization laboratory at Ascension Sacred Heart Bay.

In 2020, Glenn started a small, hotshot trucking company. COVID hit, and he felt an obligation to put in even more hours as an essential service provider.

The daily grind resulted in chronic fatigue. It became difficult for him to rebound from overnight runs and sleeping in hotels and the cab of his truck. Eventually, it got to the point where he needed a week’s rest to recover from a single road trip.

Glenn scheduled an appointment with his doctor that was required to renew his commercial driver license or CDL. He was surprised when the doctor told him he was too sick to drive and reluctantly granted a six-month extension of his license.

During one office visit, Glenn’s doctor delivered this sobering message.

“The doctor said quit drinking or die,” Glenn recalled.

Unbeknownst to his doctor and with his family’s support, Glenn had already quit drinking cold turkey.

“I hadn’t had a drop in a long time,” Glenn said. “I quit long before the doctor told me to.”

In October of 2021, just two days after his commercial driver license had expired, Glenn drove Michelle to work at the hospital and got into a car accident on the way home. He fractured seven vertebrae and required six months of rehabilitation.

Glenn rebounded just in time. In May of 2022, he was referred to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to determine if he was a suitable candidate for a liver transplant.

“We went to Mayo four times and completed more testing each time,” said Glenn. “We would go before the board to decide if I was a candidate for transplant, and each time they would come back and say they needed more information.

“During this time, I was so sick I gave up. I mustered enough energy to get our house in order so my family could continue on without me.”

Glenn’s life was about to improve dramatically.

On Nov. 10, 2022, he was placed on the national transplant waiting list. He received a lifesaving liver donation six days later. Glenn was surprised the call came so soon after months of trying to get on the waiting list.

Glenn and Michelle made it from their home in Panama City Beach to the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center in Jacksonville in record time.

“My Camaro goes fast, and Michelle knows how to drive it,” Glenn quipped.

Today Glenn is a proud teetotaler who is grateful for a second chance.

The Florida transplant and self-described beach bum could hardly wait to give back and get back to living life to the fullest. For starters, Glenn shared his donation story with doctors and nurses at a flag-raising ceremony at Ascension Sacred Heart Bay to celebrate National Donate Life Month in April.

In addition to training as a volunteer for LifeQuest, Glenn has his sight set on a new pastime that will allow him to enjoy his passion for being near the water.

Eight months post-transplant, Glenn has had time to reflect on what happened to him and what matters most. In 1988, he was hospitalized for a week with hepatitis that developed after eating contaminated fast food. He believes it may have contributed to his liver failure.

Not that it really matters.

“Now, I may be as broke as I’ve ever been, but I’m as happy as I’ve ever been,” he said. “I’ve been given a second chance.”

“I’m just glad he made it, and we are on the other side,” Michelle said.

Thanks to Glenn’s Gift of Life, he and Michelle were able to travel to Indiana in May to see their daughter, Sierra, graduate from Purdue University with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DMV).

“We say that out loud a lot,” Glenn beamed. “I’m proud of that.”