CASTLE PINES, Colo. — Teresa Anderson and Delores Stafford have been best friends since high school, when they used to sit next to each other in class.
Now, a few decades later, they're sharing a home.
Anderson and her boyfriend, Richard Farrell, have been living in Delores' and her husband Ken Stafford's furnished basement since November with their three dalmatians after Farrell had to have an emergency liver transplant. Anderson and Farrell live in Georgia but were in town seeing Farrell's doctor when they learned he needed the surgery.
“I could just almost cry,” Delores Stafford said. “I think what a blessing to be able to host someone especially through the Christmas season.”
Farrell had the surgery to replace the liver that his girlfriend donated to him 20 years ago. Farrell said he suffered acute liver failure after Tylenol toxicity in 2000. Other than suffering from insomnia he was a healthy 30-year-old man.
“I was very fortunate to have [the same doctor] save my life once again,” Farrell said.
They say they are most grateful for the hospitality from their close friends.
“We’re trying to be really good house guests,” Anderson said. “You’re fortunate in life to have people close to you, family and friends and people you can really count on.”
Farrell has to stay in Denver for recovery through April. Anderson plans to head back to Georgia after the first of the year.
“It makes you kind of get choked up about it, that so many people got their hands on you or behind you and care about you," Farrell said.
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