Coleen Rickey's faith, as well as her devotion to others, has helped her along her varied career path with Ascension. It also helped her make a decision that likely saved her older brother's life.
Rickey, 55, now a community health outreach mobile health manager for Ascension St. Vincent's in Jacksonville, Florida, donated part of her liver to her brother, Harry Tucker, 62, in 2023.
Her decision meant setting aside her career and focusing her life on preparing to become a donor. But she sees it all as part of a divine plan. "I say it's God's timing," Rickey says.
The fast track
Early in her career, Rickey oversaw corporate wellness programs for NBC in New York and then the YMCA in Jacksonville. She came to work for Ascension about 25 years ago as a manager of patient experience at Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside Hospital.
She helped onboard the workforce when St. Luke's Hospital became Ascension St. Vincent's Southside Hospital in 2008. She later moved into ambulatory care before getting the chance in 2022 to lead and work in consumer and patient experience with Ascension at a national level.
Meanwhile, Tucker, who lives in Sleepy Hollow, New York, had a busy career in sales. About 20 years ago, he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called primary biliary cholangitis, which means his body was attacking his bile ducts and the condition could lead to liver failure.
"I was one of the top sales people in my company," Tucker says. "I was running 1,000 miles an hour. I will be honest, I largely ignored the diagnosis because I was asymptomatic for many, many years."
But then he started to have issues with his balance and blood pressure. In early 2022, he saw a specialist, but he wasn't sick enough to warrant placement on a transplant list. However, he was told he could be a candidate for a live liver transplant, if he could find a donor.
Stepping up
The siblings are part of a blended family of 10 children. The living donor conversation came up at a family graduation in summer 2022. Initially, a younger brother volunteered but was rejected. "And my incredible sister stepped up," Tucker says.
Rickey passed initial tests and prayed about her decision. She and her husband have three children, and she knew she had to be there for them. She also wondered how the operation and recovery would fit into her job timeline.
"I have a very strong, deep faith, and at the time, I had moved into a role at a national level at Ascension, and was very focused on my career, but this kind of stopped me in my tracks," she says.
"Our faith is deeply who we are"
Still, she knew she wanted to help.
"It was a no-brainer," she says. "We (siblings) had already said that regardless of the process, we all wanted to be involved. I just jumped in. If I'm healthy enough to do it, I'd love the opportunity."
Their mother, a widow, was a devout Catholic who met their stepfather, a widower, at an ice cream social for single Catholic parents.
"Mom was always that constant force about representing the community and recognizing who we are, and our faith is deeply who we are," Rickey says.
The impending surgery led Tucker to take a closer look at his own faith. "Coleen risking her life and her family's well-being for me was a pivotal moment in my life and my spiritual well-being," Tucker says, "and how I look at things going forward as well."
Meanwhile, Rickey told her supervisor at Ascension that she was undergoing testing to see if she could help her brother. Around that time, Ascension was undergoing restructuring, and supervisors offered Rickey another role. Instead, she decided to accept a severance offer.
"I believe the timing of this experience was God's timing, not mine," she says. "I took those months to 100% dedicate my existence to being ready for (Harry)."
Rickey lost 60 pounds in the four months before the surgery, eating a healthy diet, taking a Pilates class five times a week, and walking at least 5 miles a day.
The surgery took place in January 2023 at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York.
When doctors cut into Tucker to remove his liver, they found it encased in what turned out to be cancer. If they had known about the cancer, he wouldn't have been a candidate for a transplant, Rickey points out.
"He was a lot sicker than we thought, and likely would have not survived," Rickey says.
Recovering and reflecting
The siblings spent time together recovering. Rickey had to stay in the area for at least nine weeks so doctors could keep a close eye on her - she stayed in New York during the coldest time of year, she points out. The siblings joke that next time, they'll do the transplant closer to her home in Florida.
Tucker rented a cottage nearby for his sister, and Rickey's best friend, who is a nurse, flew in from Colorado to advocate for and help care for the two. Neighbors and friends provided daily meals. The two hung out with family and took walks. They jokingly called the experience "Liver Transplant Camp."
"It's life-transforming when you see how people help one another without even thinking," Tucker says.
As a result of the experience, Tucker has "completely reassessed" his life. He left his job running a division of his company, and he's working in a consultant role. He and his wife are talking about their next phase and how they will give back. They have one grown daughter and enjoy spending time outdoors.
Physically, he says hasn't felt better in 25 years. "It's a critical thing when you don't have your health, and it dissipates over time, and you don't notice it until you get it back," he says. "I have reinvigorated my life."
As Rickey recovered, she thought about her next career steps. For a while, she worked at a Catholic church with a pastor that she knew through Ascension. Tucker also connected her with a few opportunities in the corporate world, but those didn't pan out, she says.
"I wanted to make certain that wherever I did land, that I could bring my faith with me," she says.
A fresh opportunity
In 2024, an Ascension colleague from years ago told her about the job managing St. Vincent's Mobile Health Outreach Ministry. Rickey didn't have a clinical background, but she knew she could run things. And the job meant she could stay close to home in Jacksonville.
She got the job, and she loves it, she says. The program provides care for the uninsured, and mobile units travel to neighborhoods in Northeast Florida where care is needed most. The Ascension St. Vincent's Foundation funds the ministry, which reaches more than 10,000 patients and fills about 2,700 prescriptions a year.
"We're talking about the most marginalized people in our community, and to give them hope and to transform their lives, every day," Rickey says. "We have that opportunity in the work that I get to do now professionally. I think that was only because of God's grace and this whole journey."