Harold Derrick of Honesdale needs a liver transplant.
Battling Hepatitis C for 23 years and diagnosed in May with liver cancer, 52-year-old Derrick is taking one day at a time.
It’s his family and friends that are keeping him strong, he says.
Sgt. Derrick is a full-time shift supervisor at the Wayne County Correctional Facility.
“I push myself,” Derrick said, unwilling to let the diseased organ call the shots.
That doesn’t mean he isn’t fatigued; it just means he’s determined.
“[Hepatitis] is a blood disease that affects the liver ...your enzymes go up and it makes your liver not function the way it should,” he said. “If the Interferon (medication) doesn’t clear the Hepatits C from your liver, it turns to Cirrhosis, which is what happened to me,” Derrick said.
“Then, from cirrhosis, it goes to liver cancer in most people. I wouldn’t say all people; some people have it and don’t even know they have it,” he said.
Derrick underwent chemoembolization in July where chemo is injected directly into the blood vessel feeding the tumor.
“They filled tumor with the chemo and the tumor expanded; so he was pretty sick for about three weeks,” says his wife, Chris. Ever at his side, she’s a source of strength.
Derrick was recently placed on the liver transplant list.
Since the liver regenerates, one option is to receive a portion of a live donor’s liver. “They won’t except just anybody. They prefer a loved one, a family member, and they have to be in pristine health. They can’t have had any health problems in the past, any kind of cancer, any kind of sickness,” Derrick said.
“What they would do, they would take 60 percent of someone’s liver,” he explained. “Within two to three months, the liver is one part of your body that regenerates. It would regenerate to a normal size.”
No one is a candidate in his family.
“It wasn’t 100 percent that it would work,” his wife said.
“Even though they put another liver in, I’m still going to have the Hepatitis C. But since it took 20 to 30 years for me to get to this point, once they put a new liver inside me, it would take 20 to 30 years to get to that point again,” Derrick said.
Alert Hook and Ladder Fire Co., 222 Willow Avenue, Honesdale, is holding a benefit yard sale Friday, September 3 and Saturday, September 4, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monetary donations may be dropped off at any FNCB branch, c/o the Harold Derrick Benefit Fund.
