When Darryll DeCoster found out he needed a liver transplant, he
did what came natural. He set up a blog – delivermyliver.com.

DeCoster, a Web designer at Zippo Manufacturing Co., had been
living with primary sclerosing cholangitis for 12 years. PSC is a
disease which affects the function of the bile ducts. The walls of
the ducts become inflamed, which causes scarring and narrowing of
the bile ducts.

Since the bile can’t drain, it accumulates and seeps into the
bloodstream. The liver eventually develops cirrhosis and can no
longer function properly.

Three years ago, the Derrick City man started to experience
extreme pain, jaundice and vomiting.

“That went on for almost two years,” he said. “Basically I was
getting sick every other month.” That included DeCoster being
hospitalized three to four days at a time.

Then, his doctors told the 34-year-old that he would need a
transplant. That idea had first been broached years ago, but at
that time “I wasn’t really too concerned with what would happen in
10 years.”

“The biggest concern is cancer,” he said. The longer a person
has the disease, the more likely that person is to get cancer. And
once they get cancer, they can’t be treated.

DeCoster was put on the transplant list in June; he started his
blog in July.

“It’s primarily a blog,” he said. “I try to put in useful
information as well.”

And the name delivermyliver.com?

“Sheerly out of the fact I have a demented sense of humor.”

It’s that sense of humor, demented or not, that has gotten
DeCoster through one of the most trying moments in his life.

“It’s more therapeutic to laugh about it than to not,” he
said.

DeCoster said the site has received a “fair amount of traffic,”
which mostly consists of family and friends. He has also received
some stragglers who have come across the site by accident.

It was a good way to keep people informed in how he was doing.
It saved him from calling all those people, too, he said.

DeCoster usually posts messages on his blog two to four times a
week. They consist of how he is feeling and the frustration he felt
before he received his liver. And now, the blog has helped him get
back to normal.

“That helped me feel like I was getting back to a normal
routine,” he said. “They tell me to get up off the couch … move
around a bit.”

The blog has also been “kind of a soundboard.”

The responses DeCoster received were very helpful – ones from
people who have been through what he was going through.

“A perspective from someone who is healthy now,” he said. “When
you sit in the hospital with 50 other people who are sick, it’s
hard to get perspective … it’s hard to stay positive in that
environment.”

“A hospital is not a place to get well,” he said wryly.

“It helps to know what to expect.”

On Jan. 3, DeCoster received the call he was waiting for – his
liver had been delivered to UPMC. He had received a couple calls
before, but neither time worked out. The one time, the weather was
bad. The other time, there was a live donor – where they take 30 to
50 percent of a healthy liver to replace another’s – but that liver
was too fatty.

“It all worked out in the end.”

All DeCoster knows about his donor was that it was from a
34-year-old female.

“It was almost an exact match.” A donor liver can be smaller
than the one it’s replacing, but not bigger.

When asked what he would say to the donor’s family, he simply
replied, “There’s nothing I could say.”

Since the transplant, DeCoster has made a good recovery. He
spent three to four days in the critical care unit, spent 12 days
in the hospital and almost five weeks in Pittsburgh.

One of the hardest parts of the experience has been the time
he’s spent away from his sons Donovan, 5, and Dylan, 3.

“They are doing surprisingly well. Probably better than I
am.”

His wife, Litsa, stayed in Pittsburgh with him.

And while family members came from Portland, Ore., to stay with
the boys, DeCoster said the circle of friends here in Bradford have
been invaluable.

“Everything that happened that led to us being here is a
blessing,” he said. “It’s hard being from family.”

At this point, he’s not sure when he will go back to work, but
will probably be off three months.

“They’ve left that up to me … I feel pretty good.” But he knows
he can’t sit upright all day, which he would have to do if he went
back to work.

“Now I can’t physically do that,” he said, adding his incision
is 44 centimeters across.

Currently, he has no plans to take down his blog. Every few days
he still updates readers on how he is feeling with titles such as
“Another good day,” “A good day at the clinic,” “Back blast area
all clear, sir!” and “Free! Free at last.”

“I feel like I am getting better … I am doing well.”