Longtime radio host needs new liver

JOHNSON COUNTY - Longtime KCJJ radio host Tom Langenberg, better known as Tommy Lang, has launched a fundraising campaign as he awaits a liver transplant at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

Langenberg said he stopped working at the Coralville radio station just before Thanksgiving, but was paid through Dec. 15.

'I couldn't come to work,” he said. 'I was having trouble getting around, had trouble dressing myself, was weak and had a lot of fluid in my abdomen.”

Langenberg said last March, a guest at the radio station, where he had worked since 2005, remarked that Langenberg's skin and eyes looked jaundiced and he should get checked out.

'They wound up keeping me at UIHC for a few days, saying I couldn't drink again, that my liver was severely damaged,” he said.

Langenberg said the doctors told him he was so sick, they didn't know if he would make it out of the hospital, but he was discharged a week later.

Over the next several months, Langenberg said he adjusted to new medications, but in November, came down with what he thought was the flu.

'They tested me and found out my fluid had been infected by E. coli,” Langenberg said. 'They pumped me full of antibiotics, and when I got out of there, the liver specialist said they would have to get me on the transplant list.”

Langenberg said in the last couple of weeks, he's started to feel better, especially after 43 pounds worth of fluid was removed. He said it was like 'a small human was taken out of me.”

'I'm walking around better,” he said. 'I have to take random drug tests and prove I'm not drinking or smoking.”

He said he decided to go public with his health problems after being put onto the transplant waiting list. He has launched a campaign at www.gofundme.com/tommylang to raise $20,000 to pay for mounting bills. He also said a benefit is in the works in the Iowa City area.

He said a lot of people were shocked at the news that he needed a liver transplant.

'My Facebook friends include listeners who I've never met and listeners in other parts of the country,” Langenberg said. 'Some of them are donating, which I think is great.”

In the first 24 hours, Langenberg said the campaign raised $4,000 from 68 people. As of Sunday afternoon, he had raised $9,775 from 152 people.

Langenberg said although his liver is 'basically wrecked” from cirrhosis, he is a good candidate for a transplant. While he waits, he is living with his parents, who are helping him get to appointments. He hopes to receive a new liver by the summer.

'They told me I was the perfect combination of healthy enough that transplant wouldn't harm me but the levels in my liver are bad enough they want me to go high on list,” he said. 'I have a real good shot at a longer life.”

Langenberg said he hopes to return to KCJJ at some point when he is healthy enough.

'I would love to go back,” he said. 'The door is open.”