After four short but excruciating years, Erick has a new liver! Here's a brief timeline of how he made his way to the top of the donor list in such a quick fashion.

Erick was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis in November of 2020 after being hospitalized in October of 2020. PSC is typically diagnosed in people near the age of 40, but our Erick is an overachiever and was diagnosed at 29.

PSC causes inflammation of the bile ducts, which leads to scarring of the bile ducts, which causes the bile ducts to narrow, which ultimately stops bile from flowing through the bile ducts. When this can't happen, bile backs up into the liver, causing progressive damage to the liver. PSC is a progressive disease that leads to liver failure, typically within 10 to 15 years. There is no cure for this condition; a liver transplant was the final and only option.

In the four years since diagnosis, Erick has undergone 31 surgeries and has taken a litany of medications to mitigate his symptoms. Most recently, Erick found himself in the hospital for nearly a week with sepsis - a feat that shot him directly to the top of the liver transplant list.

The liver transplant was not an easy procedure. The 9-hr surgery was intense, and the following 12 hours of immediate recovery were fraught with ups and downs. Erick will spend up to a month in recovery at the hospital and will spend another six months getting back to some semblance of normal. While Erick and Jill are fortunate to have health coverage, their out-of-pocket costs could likely hit $100,000 before it's all said and done. Erick will not be able to work through his recovery, and the past four years of repeated surgeries have already led to medical debt.

I'm asking for your help in supporting my sister and brother-in-law as they recover from this necessary last step. Jill has been by Erick's side from day one, advocating for the best doctors and the best treatments, while being his support system. They both deserve a break from the constant dread of medical debt, pain, and stress that PSC has caused.