VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A woman is on a life-saving mission to get her dad a new liver, and she and her family are working to find a match. Amberjean Gallagher was about to move up her wedding to December for fear her father would not make it. Then they put him on the living donor list. Her father is stable at the moment, but time is of the essence. “My dad is my best friend,” Gallagher said. Amberjean Gallagher fights back tears when she thinks of her special relationship with her father. “He’s always supported me in everything that I did," she said. "He’s always been there for me whenever I needed someone to talk to.” For the past year, that relationship has been under stress. Frank Gallagher first noticed something was wrong in November 2023. “He said he didn’t feel good, and he thought he had food poisoning,” Gallagher said. She believes it’s due to his diet. A former CEO of the Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center and director at Eastern State Hospital, Frank Gallagher traveled a lot and was always grabbing food on the go. After feeling sick, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors told them he almost didn’t make it. They said he had cirrhosis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. “We found out that it was undetected since 2018," she said. He’s now at VCU. Her fiancé tried to donate but was told he had some fatty liver disease as well. Now they’re doubling down, trying every avenue. “It’s not the whole liver, it’s just a portion of the liver," she said. "Your liver is actually the only organ that can regenerate, so you’ll get that piece back. And it grows back in about six weeks for the donor.” Recovery time for the donor is a month. Financial assistance is available, and all tests are covered by the living donation team. Amberjean Gallagher is getting the word out any way they can, even getting custom made sweatshirts for the family, posting it to social media and advertising their need on their cars. She’s hoping for a donor soon so he can walk her down the aisle on her special day. “We’re just hoping that he gets that liver so he can get that second chance at life. We’re praying about it, I’m doing everything I can. Just anything I can do, you know, cause he’s my best friend. It’s not his time, so, I need help.” If you’d like to help, call Amberjean Gallagher at 757-550-7691.