Hinch may face liver transplant

Broadcaster Derryn Hinch may face a liver transplant in his bid to beat cancer.
The crusading 66-year-old journalist told his audience on Melbourne radio station
3AW he would be unlikely to survive a planned operation to remove a large portion of
his liver to rid his body of a malignant tumour.
Hinch said he would undergo exploratory surgery on Thursday or Friday in a procedure
which would include the insertion of chemotherapy beads into his liver.
"Then we wait for a month to see who is winning," he told his 3AW audience on Monday
afternoon.
"It seems that may win a battle but not the war and give us time to regroup before
the next step."
When he announced two weeks ago that he was suffering cancer, Hinch said it was
likely he would have up to 40 per cent of his liver removed.
But Hinch's liver was too damaged following years of self-confessed excessive
drinking. He was diagnosed more than three years ago with advanced cirrhosis.
"The chance of my having major surgery to remove 40 per cent of my liver is
increasingly unlikely because it is feared what's left won't cope, won't be strong
enough to keep me alive," he said.
"So a liver transplant, seems to be a more likely way to go if I am lucky enough to
get one. Quite a big if.
"Still, as I have said, there are a lot of people far worse off than I am,
especially kids with cancer, people on waiting lists for years for various
operations, and these days heaven help you if you need an ambulance in a hurry."
Two weeks ago, Hinch told his audience he stood only a 60 per cent chance of
surviving five years after surgery to remove a portion of his liver.
After he was diagnosed with cirrhosis, a related bout of septicemia almost killed him.
Meanwhile, Hinch also faces a legal battle on charges he breached Victorian County
Court suppression orders.
He has won the right to argue before a full bench of the High Court that the orders
he allegedly breached by naming two sex offenders at a 2008 protest rally are
constitutionally invalid.
He was jailed in 1987 for four weeks for contempt of court after revealing on radio
the past convictions of a pedophile priest.
If convicted on the new charges, he faces up to one year in jail and fines in excess
of $12,000 on each offence.
The former newspaper editor, foreign correspondent and TV host is known as the
"Human Headline" and has been married four times - twice to actress Jacki Weaver.