Tom Bradley


For Tom Bradley, 2007 was supposed to be an exciting new year. After 24 years in the investment industry, he was just weeks away from realizing his dream – launching a new investment firm. But the liver disease he had lived with since his diagnosis in his mid-20s was about to take a drastic turn for the worse. After getting rushed to the hospital, his wife Lori Lothian recalls, “He got very sick, ruptured esophageal varices and complications. He recovered but the message that emerged was clear: he needed a liver transplant – soon!”

Tom’s rare AB blood type worked in his favour and he received a liver transplant seven months later. Two months after his surgery, he was back at the helm of his new company, Steadyhand. And before the end of the year, Tom and Lori were able to return to skiing, one of their passions. “Transplantation is truly a gift of life, but it’s not a promise of absolute restoration to (normal) good health and immunosuppression is a tricky business.”

Lori has been on the Transplant Research Foundation Board since 2008 as a way to give back. She and Tom are grateful for the advances in transplant medicine that have kept him alive and well and they have always advocated for research. In fact, just hours before his surgery, Tom didn’t hesitate when he was asked to participate in a study. It was only later they learned the project was Dr. Bruce McManus’ work on biomarkers, which has now led to groundbreaking new discoveries in transplant knowledge around the world.

Tom and Lori maintain, “We are committed to transplant research for the same reasons as when we started with TRF, but now we have another reason. We know his life may one day depend on it.”