Liver donor, recipient speak at breakfast

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Carole Motycka and Jason Stechschulte went to the same church, St. Mark’s Lutheran in Van Wert, for a number of years without really knowing each other. That changed last year when Stechschulte provided Motycka with a portion of his liver after finding out she needed a new one after two years of treatment for Stage 4 colon cancer.

Both spoke Friday morning at the YMCA’s annual Good Friday Prayer Breakfast held at Hickory Sticks Golf Club.

Motycka first spoke briefly and talked about her illness, with which she was diagnosed in 2016, noting that it has brought a number of challenges and obstacles, but also celebration and a greater faith in God.

She spoke about how having a serious illness can lead a person to a greater threshold of belief.

Motycka has been an advocate for further advancements in colon cancer research, and works with the Colon Cancer Alliance advocacy group. Last year, she was named as a “National Faces of Blue” award recipient, and has spoken publicly to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., to advocate for changes in current medical barriers facing cancer patients.

That was easier, Motycka noted, than speaking briefly at Friday’s Prayer Breakfast.

Motycka’s story has also been featured on a Cleveland Clinic podcast entitled “Overcomer” and has been on the “We Have Cancer Show” to raise awareness for treatment of colon cancer.

She talked about how her illness and how it has increased her trust in Christ and talked about how Stechschulte is more like her brother than her friend after their shared history.

Stechschulte then spoke, noting that, while he and Motycka were separated only by an aisle at St. Mark’s, they had never talked prior to his decision to provide her with a portion of his liver.

“Today, I want to talk to you about faith,” the Fort Jennings native said to begin. “To start off, I want to come clean and admit I don’t have faith in God’s existence.”

Stechschulte noted the dictionary definition of faith — firm belief in something for which there is no proof — noting “that’s the part that eliminates me from having faith: I have experienced ample proof throughout my life. I have not only met God, I have been embraced by God.”

Stechschulte talked about being the son of two high school students, and the fact that his father and mother decided to have him, even though both received advice to either give him up for adoption or consider abortion. He noted that abortion would not have been a popular choice in a Catholic community such as Fort Jennings, where he grew up, but said it was a choice nevertheless.

Instead, his father and mother left school. His father worked a number of jobs to support the family, while his mother stayed at home and raised him. She later finished school, went to college, and became a teacher.

Stechschulte said his first experience with faith came when he was 14 years old in 1990. The Cincinnati Reds had just won the World Series and Barry Larkin was his sports hero. When Reds players came to Van Wert to play a charity basketball game against area coaches, Stechschulte wanted more than anything to get Larkin’s autograph. He even prayed to God asking that someday — not necessary that day — he could get Larkin’s autograph. While he felt a new warmth and love enveloping him following his prayer, the line was long and halftime was over before he could get the autograph. 

However, before the charity game resumed, the announcer noted that one more person in the audience would get the chance to meet Larkin. As the number on the winning admission ticket was read, Stechschulte became suddenly aware that he was going to get his wish, noting that he practically ran down to meet his hero.

“That day was amazing, not because this 14-year-old kid got to meet Barry Larkin, a person he admired, it’s because it’s the same day that 14-year-old kid no longer had to rely on faith in God. From that point on, the kid knew God existed. He had been enriched by God and he knew God still worked miracles in this world.”

Stechschulte noted that, while he didn’t know Motycka personally, he knew of her struggle with cancer and was shocked to learn that she needed a liver, since he thought she had already won her battle.

Although, at the time, being an organ donor was the farthest thing from his mind, something changed in him when he read in the church bulletin that Motycka still needed a liver and a telephone number to call. Although he spent the rest of the service making excuses about how he couldn’t be an organ donor, he suddenly knew it was something he had to do. Even more amazing, he said was that his wife, Stephanie, had also had the exact same experience.

“Now, we obviously both couldn’t be the donor, so we discussed why would we both have the same experience,” Stechschulte said.

In doing research, he and his wife discovered that he would be the best donor, because less of his liver would need to be used.

The first conversation they had with Motycka was to tell her that they were on the donor list.

But there were still come challenges to overcome. The most obvious one was that someone else was initially chosen to be the donor. That person was found to have a serious health problem, though, as more testing was done.

Eventually, though, Stechschulte was chosen as the organ.

It was after the incision from the operation started to heal, that Stechschulte said he discovered the enormity of God’s plan for his life really hit home. Because the incision was over a birthmark that he had always joked was the “nose” to a face on his chest.

“To me, God had just recently asked me to become a donor, and it hadn’t occurred to me that it was God’s plan all along,” he noted. “Remember, I was born to some high school kids who could have chosen to abort me; but instead they decided to have faith that God had a plan.

“The most miraculous thing is that God had given us a sign that it was meant to be from the day of my birth,” Stechschulte added with emotion. “That birth mark on my belly, it wasn’t a nose to a face, it was exactly the place where the surgeon started the incision.”