Sharon Lienau asked for "last blessings" when she was placed on a gurney and wheeled to a plane bound for Atlanta.

She knew her chances of survival were slim.

Just weeks before, the former marketing executive had moved to Bluffton with her husband, Hank, for a more relaxed way of life away from the chilly Chicago air. Days after the move, Lienau fell into a coma-like state and was rushed to Memorial University Medical Center.

Doctors there discovered an infection that had attacked her colon and destroyed her liver. Her only hope, they said, was a liver transplant.