George Best has a liver transplant after 9 month wait

George Best, the former Manchester United footballer, underwent a liver transplant operation in London on July 30, as a result of his drinking problems.

Best, now a sports commentator, has waited much longer than the average 60 days for a suitable liver to become available from a donor with the same blood group.

About nine hours into the operation, a statement disclosed that there had been "initial worries" but that the transplant was expected to be satisfactorily completed in another hour.

After a nine-month wait on the transplant list, Best, 56, received a call telling him that a liver might be available, said his agent, Phil Hughes.

At 10.10am the same day, Best went into surgery at the private Cromwell Hospital, West London.

Nigel Heaton, the consultant surgeon, and Prof Roger Williams, Best's consultant physician, said in their statement: "The operation on Mr George Best has been proceeding satisfactorily.

"After some initial worries, his condition has substantially improved. He will be moved to the intensive care ward shortly after surgery is completed in another hour or so."

Prof Williams later told reporters outside the hospital that Best would be monitored closely after the operation and the next few days would be critical for his recovery.

"Tonight is the most difficult immediately after the operation. There's a lot of things to watch over and be monitored," he said. "But if he gets through tonight, as he should do, then everybody is hopeful and tomorrow will be a new day."
Mr Hughes said Best coped well when he arrived at the hospital. "He was absolutely fine, much braver than I would be - I was a bag of nerves."

He added that despite Best's success in finally giving up drinking, his liver had failed to recover from years of abuse. "He wasn't getting any worse but he wasn't getting any better either," he said. "This is very good news but there is still a worrying wait ahead."

Best's wife Alex, 29, accompanied him to the hospital. The pair returned from a holiday in Malta on the previous Thursday, having stayed within an hour of the airport to ensure that they could be back in Britain within six hours if necessary.

His son Calum, 21, from his first marriage, to Angie, was also at the hospital during the long wait for his father to emerge from theatre.

There are high chances of the operation being a success. Although it is a major operation which usually takes from five to 10 hours, sometimes longer, the surgery is now regarded as routine.

Success rates are high with 80 per cent survival at one year, 73 per cent at two years and 64 per cent at five years. The former Northern Ireland international has been fighting alcoholism for most of his adult life.

His drinking exploits led to an arrest in 1984 for drink-driving and assaulting a police officer and a subsequent prison sentence. Six years later he was drunk in a television interview with Terry Wogan.

Drinking and womanising played their part in destroying his first marriage, to Angie, and his glittering football career began its long decline. He tried to give up drinking many times. On occasions he did not take his medication or discharged himself from clinics and hospitals.

After a collapse two years ago he was told that his liver damage was so severe that one more drink could kill him.
He revealed last November, when he had been sober for 12 months, that he was "considering" transplant surgery. He said at the time: "We're seeing how it goes, but it's great that I've been off alcohol long enough to be accepted on the transplant scheme."

However, last February, Best went on a three-day drinking spree which, according to his wife, put his health back to where it had been six months earlier.

Nigel Hughes, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said there was evidence that people whose livers had been damaged by alcoholism rather than other diseases often survived for many years following transplants.

"Having said that, if Mr Best was not a celebrity he might well be dead by now. Too often drinkers just get seen by the on-call team when they are admitted to hospital and do not get properly assessed.

"We talk a lot about educating the public but our health care brethren need educating as well."

Once on the transplant list, as a British resident, it made no difference whether he was to be treated privately or on the National Health Service.

Best had already received liver treatment with Antabuse implants, which cause violent side effects if the patient tries to drink alcohol. He and Alex, his wife of seven years, had also moved to Northern Ireland to avoid London clubs and bars.

In a recent interview in a Sunday newspaper Mr Best said that none of his doctors had questioned whether he should receive a liver because of his history of alcoholism. He added that he planned to continue with the Antabuse pellets after the transplant operation, and was determined not to return to drinking.

"That's the one thing everyone's worried about -- the fact that a lot of people have the operation thinking it will enable them to drink again," he said.

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