The Challenge: Primary Sclerosis Cholangitis (PSC)
Eric Carter, DO, woke up one morning in August 2020 and went to work as a gastroenterologist. On his way home that evening, he glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed a yellowish tint to his eyes. The next day, Eric scheduled an appointment with his primary care physician. After reviewing his bloodwork along with many other tests, doctors diagnosed Eric with primary sclerosis cholangitis (PSC), a chronic, progressive liver disease where the bile ducts inside and outside the liver become inflamed, scarred, and eventually narrowed or blocked. Doctors told Eric he had two years to live.
“There was a little bit of denial at first because I wasn’t symptomatic at all,” said Eric. “But once I got that bloodwork back, I knew it was a lot more serious than I thought.”
After his diagnosis, Eric began palliative chemotherapy, a treatment to help control liver disease symptoms. After 10 months of chemotherapy, Eric began to experience complications that led to pseudocirrhosis, a condition similar to cirrhosis of the liver. That is when Eric and his wife, Wendi, began to research transplant options.
The Path to UPMC
Eric and Wendi explored living donor transplant at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute at UPMC and decided to move forward.
“Because of my medical background, I strongly thought of living donation over deceased donation due to the fact that you have the ability to choose the timing of the transplant,” said Eric. “Living donation is important to consider because time is of the essence and my disease was going to keep progressing so living donation was truly my only hope of survival.”
After Eric’s liver transplant evaluation, doctors told him that he was a candidate for a living-donor liver transplant. The next step? Finding a living donor. Wendi set up a Facebook page to help spread the word of Eric’s need for a living donor. Within 24 hours, he had more than 20 people register to become his potential living donor.
“The power of social media is tremendous,” said Eric. “The amount of people you can reach with a few keystrokes is amazing. I had people from Massachusetts to the Carolinas wanting to be my living donor.”
In addition to creating a Facebook page, Eric and Wendi advocated throughout their church community about his condition and need for a liver transplant. Isaiah, a close friend of Eric’s for more than six years, registered to become a living donor. After completing the evaluation process, Isaiah learned he was compatible.
“There was absolutely no hesitation to register to be his living donor,” said Isaiah. “When I first heard the news, I texted Eric and told him, ‘If you want a piece of my liver, you got it.'”
The Result: A Second Chance
Because Eric was traveling from out of state, he recognizes Family House as a big part of the success in his transplant journey. Family House’s mission provides a “home away from home” for patients and their families who must travel to Pittsburgh for medical care by offering safe, convenient, affordable housing and a network of support, comfort, and compassion.
“I have three kids and Family House really helped us get through this together,” said Eric. “It’s such a great program and people should consider it when traveling to Pittsburgh for care.”
Eric and Isaiah’s surgeries were completed in December 2021, and both are recovering well.
“We walked out of the hospital together and I was able to go home to spend Christmas with my family,” said Eric.
“I can’t say enough about the UPMC transplant program; it’s spectacular. The team was so attentive, and the entire process happened very quickly.”
Isaiah is thankful for the opportunity to donate and watching Eric return to his normal life was all he wanted.
“Just seeing the color come back in his face meant a lot to me and I wouldn’t change one thing about our journey together,” said Isaiah. “The transplant process was easier than I thought, and I would do it again if he needed it.”
When Eric went back to work, he took his oldest son to school first. During the car ride, he looked over at his son and saw a tear in his eye.
“He saw things were getting back to normal,” said Eric. “That was everything to me.”
After his recovery, Eric is back to playing golf and basketball and attributes his new life to living donation.
Eric and Isaiah’s treatment and results may not be representative of all similar cases.