Five years after being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease and told he would need a triple transplant to survive; Rockton resident Joe Beard has some positive news to share.

Beard, 42, a husband and father of two young daughters, suffers from STAT3 gain of function, a multiorgan autoimmune disease that is actually attacking his own body.

He is on home dialysis and is in need of a liver, kidney and bone marrow transplant.

More:'This is going to kill me': Rockton man with rare genetic disorder in need of 2 live donors

Outside of a recent stint in the hospital to stop internal bleeding in his abdomen, not much has changed physically in the past year for Beard. But emotionally? His spirits are as high as ever.

Earlier this year, Beard learned that Dr. Andres Duarte, a liver specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who was working on Beard's case, is now based in Chicago serving as director of the Northwestern Medicine Organ Transplantation Center.

Having Duarte located in Chicago is significant for several reasons:

Beard and his wife, Hayley, have already met with Duarte and other doctors in Chicago.

"The head guy was almost giddy with excitement," Beard said. "I mean it was just like, 'Wow! Maybe this is God's plan. Meet Dr. Duarte and then two years later, follow him out here to Chicago.'"

At the time of Beard's diagnosis in 2018 there were only 28 known cases of STAT3 gain of function.

Hayley, Beard's wife of nine years, has already agreed to donate up to 60% of her liver, the only organ in the human body capable of re-growing.Liver regeneration after donation takes six to eight weeks.

What is still needed is a kidney donor. If the kidney comes from a live donor, that person also will likely be asked to be the bone marrow donor, too.

"So,right now, the plan is to proceed with my care at Northwestern," Beard said, "and we're just asking people to sign up to be a donor for a kidney or stem cell and to share the story."

To register to be a donor, you can do so at nmlivingdonor.org.

To help the family with travel and expenses, donations can be sent to:

Roscoe United Methodist Church, C/O Joseph Beard Transplant Fund, 10816 Main St., Roscoe, Illinois, 61073

Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen

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Doctors: Live or cadaver donors can now save the life of a Rockton ... - Rockford Register Star