Jennifer McBride spent 15 years watching her health decline before a liver transplant in October 2017 gave her a second chance at life. Nearly nine years later, she stood face-to-face with the daughter of the man whose liver now keeps her alive, hugging, laughing, and crying together at DonorConnect's Murray facility.
McBride was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis at age 30, according to FOX 13 News Utah. The rare chronic liver disease affects up to 1 in 10,000 people, causing progressive bile duct scarring that typically leads to liver failure 10 to 15 years after diagnosis, with transplantation as the only known cure, per the Mayo Clinic. Before her transplant, McBride's sister and sister-in-law both attempted to become living donors but were unable to because of health reasons, the station reports.
McBride was eventually called to rush to the hospital after a possible liver match was found, though that first potential match did not pan out. She ultimately received the liver of Jerry Wayne Amussen, a 76-year-old man who died in 2017 and whose final act, in the words of his daughter Kerri Cronk, was helping someone keep living.
A Familiar Face From Utah Mornings
Cronk is a longtime FOX 13 morning news anchor who spent 30 years on the air at Good Day Utah before stepping down in September 2024 to relocate to Australia with her husband, according to a Facebook post marking her departure. She was back visiting Utah when McBride recognized her and approached her at a local restaurant, according to the same account.
Before that chance encounter, the two women and their families had communicated only through letters for years — a deliberate arrangement built into the system. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network guidelines require organ procurement organizations to enforce strict anonymity protocols during initial communications between donor families and recipients, permitting direct contact only once both parties formally consent, per federal guidance. McBride and Cronk followed that official process before eventually reuniting in person at DonorConnect in Murray.
The Man Behind the Gift
Amussen was once a top-ranked high school tennis player across Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana who earned a scholarship to Brigham Young University and continued playing competitively until Parkinson's disease restricted his mobility before his death, according to his obituary from Serenity Funeral Home of Southern Utah. He was survived by four children and 13 grandchildren.
At the reunion, Cronk told the station that a part of her father lives on in McBride. McBride said Jerry's gift changed her life, and that his name is regularly spoken by her family, friends and church members. In the years since her transplant, she has watched her sons graduate, seen her daughters get married and met her grandchildren — milestones she said she gained a fuller sense of peace about after connecting with Amussen's family.
A Regional System Behind Every Match
The reunion took place at DonorConnect, the federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization headquartered in Murray that serves nearly 3.9 million residents across Utah, southeastern Idaho, western Wyoming and Elko, Nevada, according to the Salt Lake Chamber. The organization, formerly known as Intermountain Donor Services, works with more than 90 hospital partners and four transplant centers across its region.
DonorConnect screened roughly 1,800 potential donors in 2025 and recovered organs from 300 deceased donors, resulting in 308 liver transplants and 474 kidney transplants across its network, according to data compiled by Cause IQ. Nationally, transplant centers performed a record 12,344 liver transplants last year, an 8% increase over 2024 driven partly by a surge in living donor procedures, per organdonor.gov. Liver candidates still make up roughly 8% of the nearly 110,000-person national transplant waiting list.
McBride said her liver is doing very well nearly nine years on, a report consistent with broader outcomes data: Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients figures show 81.8% of U.S. liver transplant recipients survive at least five years post-transplant, according to Becker's Hospital Review. McBride said she and Cronk's families now share a permanent bond, connected forever by the gift Amussen left behind.
