A Return to Rhythm: Life After Liver Transplant

The world was Francis Mbappe’s stage: from his hometown in Douala, Cameroon, where he first learned to play the drums, to the music venues of Paris, where he honed his talents on the bass guitar, to the jazz clubs of New York City, where he played up to four gigs a week.

Nothing could stop Francis’ love for music. His steady groove propelled him through dozens of albums, festivals, and countries over the decades — until his body slowed him down.

He began to feel worn down after his shows; and in 2014, he started to feel a consistent pain in his stomach, sending him to visit the emergency room at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital. Following a series of tests and procedures, specialists later discovered he had pyogenic cholangitis, a chronic infection of the liver and bile ducts, which was causing liver failure.

After undergoing several treatments without improvement, Francis and his care team decided on a next step in 2016: a liver transplant.

“I remember asking, ‘Am I going to be able to play music again on stage?’” Francis says. “I concentrated on pushing myself to recover for my purpose in life.”

Francis first started playing music as a young child, singing and learning percussion with kids in his neighborhood. He built his first guitar with the help of a family friend, then tested his skills on the piano, and eventually developed a love for the bass.

His musical passions led him to many cities around west Africa until he decided to move to Paris, France, and by the age of 19, he was touring internationally with Cameroonian saxophonist Manu DiBango. In 1997, Francis moved to New York, bringing the jazz, funk, rock and African melodies of his band, FM TRIBE, to stages around the city. Throughout his travels and performances, Francis never got sick, he says. But in 2000, abnormal bloodwork results showed his liver was not functioning well, though he never received a diagnosis.

He had few symptoms until stomach pain led him to NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital in 2014. “All the time I was feeling a little something, though I didn’t feel sick,” Francis says. “But then the pain in my belly really started to bother me.”

His care team, including several hepatologists, liver specialists, and endoscopists, discovered recurring liver stones and scarring in his bile ducts due to chronic infections.

For over a year, Francis’ specialists explored several comprehensive treatments to improve his health, until he was referred to Dr. Benjamin Samstein, chief of liver transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, to seek further options.

For more information on Life After Liver Transplant, click here.