Jennifer Matthews: Over a year ago, doctors told marc perry to go home to die.
Joyce Perry: That's when I got on the phone. I said, this can't be it. I mean, there's got to be something else someone can do for him.
Jennifer Matthews: Marc has hepatitis c. While waiting for a liver transplant, the build up of toxins in his body left him very ill.
Marc Perry: At one time, I was clinically dead.
Jennifer Matthews: He lost eighty pounds in just a few months. He was also so confused he didn't even know his own wife.
Joyce Perry: He didn't realize that anybody was around him. He thought we had all abandoned him, I guess.
Jennifer Matthews: Doctor Rise Stribling took on Marc's case.
Dr. Rise Stribling: Realistically, if we were in a perfect world, when the patients developed these complications, we would like to go for emergency liver transplant, but we don't have that option in most patients since the waiting time is so long.
Jennifer Matthews: Instead, Marc was treated with this new liver dialysis machine. The machine uses charcoal to filter the toxins out of the blood a function normally done by the liver.
Dr. Rise Stribling: We don't offer this unit as a cure. We offer it as an extension of what we're already aggressively doing for these patients medically.
Jennifer Matthews: Marc started to improve after the first six-hour treatment.
Joyce Perry: Marc had no chance. This machine it's given him his life back.
Marc Perry: It is not a cure, but it gives me time to get cured.
Jennifer Matthews: And time to spend with his family as he waits and hopes for a new liver. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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