In the backyard of the Van Ostrand home in Richmond, there is a section of broken fence that has been there for years, a little mishap from playing catch. As kids, David would play catcher and his older brother Jimmy would be pitcher. Sometimes Jimmy would hit, with the balls often landing in their neighbour’s yard. As the younger brother, somehow it was David’s job to retrieve the lost balls.
“Growing up together we moved around as a family, but the cool part was Jimmy and I always had each other, a built-in friend,” recalls David, now 39 years old. “We were always really close, with family camping trips and sports trips. We got to do a lot of things together.”
Both boys were very active and played high-level sports, mostly baseball. But in 2008, their lives diverged to two extremes. Jimmy was selected for the Team Canada baseball team for the Beijing Olympics. David had just been drafted by the New York Yankees baseball team. Then David was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis-primary sclerosing cholangitis (AIH-PSC), a rare autoimmune disease of the liver that slowly destroys the liver cells and bile ducts. There is no cure.
Their mom Sandy says, “I remember telling them when they were little that life is unfair, and there we were, with such a difference between what they each had ahead of them. But we all went to China to cheer for Jimmy and it was a really special experience.”
David was told at the time of his diagnosis that he would need a liver transplant, but it would likely be several years down the road. So, he went on with his life, building a career, getting married and starting a family. However, two years ago, his health took a turn for the worst when he was diagnosed with lymphoma.
At the same time, Jimmy was also building his life, with a successful career centred around baseball. By this time, he was living on the east coast, working for the New York Mets. But when he saw how his little brother was doing, he and his wife Brooke started having serious conversations about the possibility of him stepping forward as a living liver donor.
“When David went on the waitlist for a deceased donor transplant at the beginning of 2025, it became real. Brooke and I had deeper discussions about me being his living donor,” shared Jimmy, now 41 years old. “The best way to sum it up is that it was a difficult decision, but not a hard decision. The decision itself was easy to make but obviously had a big impact.”
The timing aligned with the relaunch of the living donor liver transplant program at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) in the fall of 2024. VGH had done living donor transplants from 2001 to 2015, but the program could not be sustained and had been put on hold.
According to Dr. Peter Kim, provincial medical director for the liver transplant program, as people with liver disease live longer, more patients end up needing a transplant.
“A living donor provides recipients the opportunity to receive a transplant in a timely fashion,” explains Dr. Kim. “Purely from a human perspective, providing that opportunity for the donor to offer part of their liver to their loved one is an experience that is difficult to match in any other field in medicine.”
There are currently 79 people on the waitlist for a deceased donor liver transplant. Patients who need a liver transplant and meet specific medical criteria can now consider the option of a living donor liver transplant.
The living donor process is led by the potential donor, which usually takes at least three months but can vary. The potential donor can withdraw at any time. To maintain strict privacy and confidentiality, donors and recipients are cared for by separate healthcare teams.
Living liver donors give part of their liver to the recipient. The donor's remaining liver grows back to about 70 per cent of its original size within a few weeks.
After thorough testing, Jimmy was approved as a donor for David. On August 11, both men were wheeled into separate operating rooms at VGH and Jimmy became the first living liver donor at VGH since 2015. Their living liver donor transplant was one of 107 liver transplants in BC in 2025 and the only living liver transplant.
“I’m grateful to be able to play a role to help my brother get better and support his family so they can go on with their lives,” remarks Jimmy. “It's wild...I can’t quite comprehend that there is literally a piece of me inside of him right now. I think the fact our medical advances allow that to happen is really just mind blowing.”
For David, it’s hard to put into words his feelings of gratitude towards his big brother. As he was counting down towards the day he would receive his second chance at life, he says his body was giving up. His gums wouldn’t stop bleeding, his kidneys were starting to fail, he couldn’t think clearly.
“Now, I get to start my life again, I get to see my two kids grow up. I’ve cried a lot of tears over how grateful I am,” he says. “It’s a very cool thing to have your big brother stand up for you like that, my best man.”
The brothers and their parents are especially thankful to the medical teams at VGH who took care of them. With more than 20 health care team members directly involved in the donation and transplant surgeries, plus dozens more in the pre- and post-surgery care for both David and Jimmy, it was an incredible demonstration of collaboration and teamwork.
“Hearing the pride that the surgeons have in their teams, what they do and why they do it, was really cool,” Jimmy shares. “They’re pros, they’re legit. The number one word I used to describe Dr. Kim and Dr. [Graziano] Oldani to my wife was that these guys are legends!”
Dr. Kim humbly responds with a smile, “I would say that Jimmy is the G.O.A.T. for donating his liver to his brother. Without him, there wouldn’t have been any transplant.”
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Since Jimmy and David’s living liver donor transplant, there been an additional four living liver donor transplants at VGH. This includes the first transplant case of a recipient with colorectal liver metastases, a diagnosis that would have previously been considered terminal with no other treatment options.
