Chef Ivy awaits liver transplant to save his life

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Chef Ivy awaits liver transplant to save his life

Restaurateur who once ran 's Midtown Cafe waits for life-saving liver transplant

Sunday, May 06, 2007 By RHODA A. PICKETTStaff Reporter

It may seen a cruel irony that Ivy, not long ago one of Mobile's most popular chefs, doesn't have much of an appetite for anything.

A diagnosis of hepatitis C in 2000 has so deteriorated Ivy's liver that he now needs a transplant. The restaurateur who once watched over the preparation and serving of fine cuisine at 's Midtown Cafe on Florida Street can now eat only fresh vegetables.

"It's quite the challenge now. I just can't eat anything anymore. It's not fun."

Soon he will have to move from the recreational vehicle park he has called home for the last three months.

"I'm going to have to go live with family," he said, adding that his doctors will soon perform a procedure that will make it difficult of him to care for himself. "I can't live independently anymore."

He said that he has end stage liver disease. "What it means is you're going to die if you don't get a liver."

Ivy said that he had been on the national liver transplant list after he was diagnosed, but his name was taken from the list when his body responded well to some medication he was given. Then, more than 18 months ago, his condition worsened and his name was put back on the transplant list, he said.

Liver disease has been something that Ivy said he has hesitated sharing with friends. He said he has personal reasons for talking to the Press-Register about his condition and his need for a liver transplant. The other reason is to encourage people to become organ donors and to tell their relatives of those wishes.

According to the American Liver Foundation Web site, there were 6,500 liver transplants performed in the U.S. in 2005. The national liver transplant waiting list is prioritized so the sickest people always go to the top of the list. About 17,000 Americans are currently on a waiting list for a liver transplant, according to the Web site.

On this particular day, Ivy preferred sitting outdoors at the makeshift patio area formed from a rectangular cream-colored carpet remnant with a large wooden cable spool serving as a table. Although the red short-sleeved T-shirt and gray sweat pants appear slightly oversized, it's the blackish blue bruises up and down his forearms that indicate Ivy's poor health.

"They look good today," he said.

This particular Tuesday afternoon was what Ivy described as "moderate day." He said he doesn't get out much because trips to the pharmacists or the grocery store are exhausting. Even sharing a breakfast with family members at a local restaurant requires energy he no longer has.

Ivy said he tried to keep his condition private, selling his restaurant and then settling for jobs that wouldn't require the amount of time and energy running the restaurant did. He started working as the chef at 15 Place, the day center for the homeless in downtown Mobile. He had also developed a program called Kids Cafe in three public schools near downtown Mobile and he wrote a column for the Press-Register's food section.

His worsening health caused him to eventually stop working altogether. He said he went from making around $40,000 a year to about $13,000 annually that he receives in disability income.

To make ends meet, Ivy first used funds in his individual retirement account. When that was gone, he sold his house and used some of the profit from that sale to purchase a recreational vehicle. He parked it a camp on Old Military Road.

"I couldn't pay the mortgage anymore," Ivy said. "I made just enough profit to buy this. I just had to downsize, you know."

He does his own cooking in the RV, and when he gets tired from the effort, he lies down on the couch for a few minutes and then gets up and continues.

He will soon move again.

"Since Thanksgiving it's been a really rapid decline," Ivy said.

Ivy said that since telling more people about his illness, he has received some positive feedback.

"I have really been surprised at the people who have come forward," he said. "I got several donations. It's kept me going the last couple of months."

The money has helped him pay expenses when he travels to New Orleans for his doctor's appointments at the Tulane Transplant Center.

Friends and family are planning a benefit for Ivy on June 15 at the Blue Gill restaurant on the Causeway.

Organizers hope to sell 300 tickets. There will be items available for a silent auction and a handful of local chefs who once worked under Ivy will prepare some five or six different entrees.

All the proceeds will go to the " Ivy Special Fund Account" set up a Regions Bank, said Henry Brewster, a Mobile attorney who oversees the account. Donations can be made at Regions Bank branch.

"It's been really tough," Brewster said. "He really needs to get a transplant."

Brewster said that he and Ivy's brothers have taken Ivy to New Orleans on three separate occasions to wait on a transplant. When a liver is found, two candidates on the transplant list are called and have to be present. One candidate has to remain on standby at the hospital until doctors determine whether the liver is compatible with the transplant candidate undergoing surgery, Brewster said. If it isn't compatible, the liver is reharvested and given to the standby candidate.

"He's been up and down," Brewster said. "It's just yucky."

Ivy said he remains optimistic and the experience has taught him a few things.

"One of the really good things that has come out of this is I thought that people liked me because of my food. I've been surprised at the amount of people who have liked me in spite of my cooking. They have said, 'I want to help. I love you.'

"I never really thought that they liked me for me. I really thought that they tolerated me because I was a good cook. I thought it was because I danced well and danced fast and as long as I danced, they would love me and compliment me. I didn't realize that people didn't love me just because I cook, they loved me just because they loved me.

"I certainly have a bag full of faults. And people know how surly I could be. They have said so, publicly, in the newspaper."

After the fund-raiser, Ivy said he should have enough money to pay expenses for six months.

Despite his illness, Ivy said he "has no bitterness in his heart" for the course his life has taken.

"You are not measured by the things that you have, but by what you do when your life is difficult. That's when the true grit comes out."

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