Where My Story Begins

Written Feburary 2008
My name is Lynn Livingston and I am 43 years old. I was diagnosed with PSC (Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis) in 2001, when I donated blood at a local parade. The results showed that my liver enzymes were extremely high. I immediately saw my family doctor, and after many tests and meetings with a liver specialist, I was diagnosed. PSC is a rare liver disease, (three in 100,000 get this disease) that scars the bile ducts, restricting the flow of bile, and causing it to back up into the liver, which eventually causes liver failure. Initially the PSC was controlled with ERCPs, which is a procedure where a scope is inserted through my mouth and moved into my bile ducts, allowing doctors to remove the scarring and allow the bile to flow normally again. The scarring kept returning, however, and eventually was in a part of the liver that the scope was no longer able to help. Because the liver was unable to drain the bile fast enough it slowly began to quit functioning, which led to the diagnosis of cirrhosis of the liver in 2006.