{"id":685511,"date":"2026-03-27T12:38:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/685511\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T12:38:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T12:38:16","slug":"ct-nurse-has-unique-connection-with-man-who-saved-her-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/685511\/","title":{"rendered":"CT nurse has ‘unique connection’ with man who saved her life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Registered nurse Alison Cubbellotti has her \u201cdream job\u201d caring for the most fragile patients in a Connecticut hospital\u2019s<\/a> neo-natal intensive care unit.<\/p>\n

But 16 years ago she was the one dying, until a stranger stepped up.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Cubbellotti, now 36, received a life-saving liver transplant from a live donor and stranger at Yale New Haven Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Her donor, John, wishes to remain anonymous to the public so asked that his last name not be used, but has become like family to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod chose me to live this life and tell my story,\u201d Cubbellotti said. \u201cI\u2019m just grateful to be alive and I know all of this has purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cubbellotti, who shares her story all year through Donate Life Connecticut<\/a> as a way to promote organ donation, will be extra busy in April as it is National Donate Life Month.<\/p>\n

Cubbellotti was flagged with health problems at age 9 when she was diagnosed with Crohn\u2019s Disease<\/a>, an inflammatory bowel condition with many impacts on people who have it, as well as a liver condition and she was told she would likely need a liver transplant in 10 years.<\/p>\n

As predicted, at 19, she grew ill as a freshman nursing student at Sacred Heart University<\/a> and couldn\u2019t do her second year at the time because she became so ill.\u00a0 She had primary sclerosing cholangitis<\/a>, which the Mayo Clinic calls a rare disease, and needed a transplant from a live donor as soon as possible, doctors told her.<\/p>\n

Family and friends were tested, but there was no match. They ruled out her parents and sister. Her brother was a possibility, but further testing showed he had a blood vessel situation that could have made it deadly for him.<\/p>\n

There was no time to wait, so in desperation, her mother sent out a message to everyone in her email directory. The message caught the eye of the president of Sacred Heart at the time who put the message out in an email blast to students.<\/p>\n

To Cubbellotti\u2019s surprise and awe more than 100 students inquired, including one, a 21-year-old name John, who wound up being a match. She didn\u2019t know him and she didn\u2019t meet him before the surgery because he wanted to stay anonymous.<\/p>\n

He simply told her family that if he had a little sister in that situation he would want someone to reach out and help her.<\/p>\n

John was so determined to keep it anonymous that they had separate medical teams that were not to let them cross paths.<\/p>\n

But then, on the day that he was to be released from the hospital while she stayed for further recovery, he asked, last minute, to meet her.<\/p>\n

Cubbellotti said she \u201cpanicked.\u201d As a young woman about his age, all she could think about was that she was not wearing make-up, and had glasses on instead of contacts.<\/p>\n

When the meeting occurred, however, none of that mattered.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took my hand, my mom hugged his mom, my dad hugged his dad and we all cried,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was such a beautiful day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two and their families became fast friends. For the first 10 years they gathered yearly and and still see each other and text one another. Cubbellotti was at John\u2019s wedding and he and his wife have two children.<\/p>\n

He declined to speak with The Courant and didn\u2019t want his full name used, but gave his permission for Cubbellotti to tell their story and share a photograph.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so grateful I get to have this whole another family along with my own, \u201d Cubbellotti said. \u201cI attended his wedding, his sister\u2019s wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n

A huge commonality is they both have a deep faith and belief in God, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA piece of him is in my body.\u00a0We don\u2019t have to talk about it. We have a unique connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cubbellotti said when she\u2019s not working with her favorite category of patients at Bridgeport Hospital<\/a>, she is traveling for leisure or sharing her story to let the public know about the importance of organ donation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Yale, living donor liver transplantation represents the highest expression of our mission\u2014leading with passion, compassion, and empathy to push the boundaries of what is possible,\u201d said Dr. Hiroshi Sogawa<\/a>, surgical director of liver transplantation at Yale New Haven Hospital. \u201cBy expanding access to living donation, we are not only advancing surgical excellence but fundamentally transforming how we save lives\u2014moving from scarcity-driven care to proactive, patient-centered innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2025 at YNHH there were 114 kidney transplants, 40 liver transplants and 15 heart transplants. In the United States last year there were 49,000 transplants and 100,000-108,000 people are waiting for organs, experts at YNHH said. There are 17 deaths a day of people waiting and a new patient added every eight minutes.<\/p>\n

In her talks on organ donation, Cubbellotti likes to dispel myths such as the one spread that, if one is a donor, doctors won\u2019t try as hard to save them if they get into an accident and the myth that age is a barrier to becoming a donor.<\/p>\n

One of her favorite sayings in the donation world, Cubbellotti said, is: \u201cIf you\u2019re not going to use your organs when you go to heaven, heaven knows someone needs them here. \u201d<\/p>\n

Cubbellotti returned to nursing school after the surgery and graduated in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy donor gave me life back,\u201d Cubbellotti said. \u201cWe say God did it, but God gave us free will and he (John) chose to do it. It\u2019s so uniquely strung together, there\u2019s no other explanation than God did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working in the NICU at Bridgeport Hospital is her \u201cdream job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod not only saved my life, but he gave me the gift to save countless lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cubbellotti said that, throughout the turmoil of her health ordeals as a child and adult, she could see, \u201chope, joy and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good and bad have shaped me into the nurse I am. I have empathy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Registered nurse Alison Cubbellotti has her \u201cdream job\u201d caring for the most fragile patients in a Connecticut hospital\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":685512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[287834,128301,15163,7001,210,1141,1142,3584,15071,287833,50,79884,69539,86450,56904,1399,19401,67,132,68,152418],"class_list":["post-685511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-bridgeport-hospital","tag-donor","tag-god","tag-hartford-courant","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hospitals","tag-liver-disease","tag-neo-natal-intensive-care-unit","tag-news","tag-nicu","tag-nurse","tag-organ-donation","tag-sacred-heart-university","tag-top","tag-transplant","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-yale-new-haven"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116301182259174855","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}