All IN THE FAMILY
How football helped save his life
Football brings a smile to Matt Miller’s face — not just because he’s a fan, but because it, in a sense, saved his life. He considers himself strong as steel.
The 56-year-old was born in Pittsburgh and like most NFL fans from that area is an ardent supporter of the Pittsburgh Steelers. On display in his office at UF Health Shands, he proudly displays his yellow “Terrible Towel” — the famous rally towel waved by Steelers’ fans everywhere they travel.
Miller and his family moved from the Steel City to Gainesville when he was 10 years old. Thirty-five years ago, when he was just 20, he got his first job at UF Health Shands as a transport courier, delivering items to nursing staff. After a handful of other positions, he settled in as an Epic analyst with UF Health IT Services. His wife, Lydia Torres-Miller, is a transplant assistant with the UF Health Heart Transplant Program.
In early 2017, Miller was coaching a youth Pop Warner league football team when he slipped and fell, which resulted in a nasty bruise along the left side of his body. The bruise lingered for a several months with dark, purple marks. He said he knew something “wasn’t right.”
“When I had my annual physical in May 2017, I asked Dr. McTiernan (Michael J. McTiernan, M.D., medical director for UF Health Family Medicine at Haile Plantation) if he would do a CBC, something I knew about from working at the hospital,” Miller explained.
The results showed Miller had a blood platelet count of 45,000. The normal range is 150,000-400,000.
Miller was referred immediately to Anita Rajasekhar, M.D., a UF College of Medicine hematologist. She thought Miller’s issue was liver-related and referred him to Roniel Cabrera, M.D., M.S., a UF College of Medicine gastroenterologist. Cabrera ran more tests and ordered a CT scan, which showed Miller had an enlarged spleen and cirrhotic liver. The next step was an MRI.
“It was a bunch of waiting,” he said, “and I was antsy not knowing what they would find.”
On Oct. 30, his worst fear was confirmed.
“Dr. Cabrera told me I had hepatocellular carcinoma or liver cancer. There is no cure. The only effective treatment is a liver transplant,” Miller recalled.
He met with transplant coordinators for a slew of testing, and in February 2018, he was officially added to the United Network for Organ Sharing liver transplant waiting list.
Miller underwent two procedures in which tiny radioactive beads are used to block the blood supply to the tumor, delivering targeted radiation to the cancerous tissue. The procedures were successful, but his type of liver cancer returns, with a five-year survival rate of 11% without a transplant. Miller remained on the waiting list.
Finally, in mid-November 2018, Miller received a call about an available liver. He checked into the hospital that night, but in the early morning, the transplant team shared the news that the liver wasn’t viable for him.
(L to R) Matt Miller’s family: Matt, daughter
Lexie, son Eli, Eli’s wife Ashlynn, daughter Xylie
and wife Lydia
“I was anxious and very scared,” Miller shared. “I wondered how this was going to change my life. Then when you’re told that you won’t be having the surgery, it’s a relief and a worry at the same time. I was so close.”
In December, he got another call about an available organ, which ended up not being a match.
His waiting experience was fraught with challenges. In early January 2019, Miller started throwing up blood and was taken by ambulance to the UF Health Shands E.R. The liver cancer had caused increased internal blood pressure and large veins in his esophagus had burst. He received a lifesaving blood transfusion.
Once healed, Miller was added back to the transplant wait list.
A few weeks later, on Feb. 22, Miller was with his family moving his oldest daughter, Lexie, to Jacksonville when his phone rang with the good news of another available liver. The Millers said a quick goodbye, dashed home to Gainesville and checked into UF Health Shands Cancer Hospital that night. The next morning, his medical team confirmed the transplant and he was prepped for surgery.
“I remember that moment because it was very scary,” Miller shared. “You knew that this was going to be life or death. I was scared, but knew I had great doctors.”
Miller said his surgery was like an 80-yard touchdown drive in the Super Bowl.
“Post-transplant, the nursing staff was fantastic,” Miller said. “The doctors were fantastic, the ancillary staff, housekeeping — everybody was great and worked as a team. I was in the ICU for a few days and then 6East, and those folks were terrific. Physical therapy was great and their staff were always around. Every department I went to — interventional radiology, hepatology, hematology, endocrinology — it’s just amazing how nice and professional all of the people are who work here at Shands.”
Miller continued, “I’m happy I work at a place where people care about their patients.”
Miller still has some pain from scar tissue, but his face lights up with a mention of his Terrible Towel, as well as when he recalls all of the people who helped him through his transplant journey.
“They are my family now.”
Speaking of family…
You could say Matt Miller belongs to the “First Family” of UF Health. Many of his beloved relatives include:
His wife, Lydia Miller, is with the UF Health Heart Transplant Program.
His mother, Betsy Miller, worked many years with Shands HealthCare Marketing and Public Relations.
His brother, Brendan Miller, is with UF Health IT Services.
His sister, Christine Cassisi, led the Patient Experience team with the UF Health Sebastian Ferrero Office of Clinical Quality and Patient Safety. Her father-in-law is Nicholas Cassisi, D.D.S., M.D., UF College of Medicine chair emeritus of head and neck oncologic surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology.
His sister-in-law, Nancy Dohn, was with UF Health Science Center News and Communications.
Miller’s biggest lessons and advice
- Donate blood. “The person you save might just be sitting at the next desk.”
- Consider becoming an organ donor. “You won’t need the organs when you are gone —you can save another person’s life.”
