Pittsburgh Pirates

Woman uses sign at Pittsburgh Pirates game to ask for liver donation to save uncle

PITTSBURGH — A Fayette County woman is trying to save her uncle's life, and she took her message to PNC Park.

Emily Behm's uncle needs a liver transplant.

She created a sign to encourage any donors to come forward.

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Jim Erjavec has been living with a rare liver disease, primary sclerosing cholangitis, for eight years. It wasn;t until last week, though, that he was put on the liver transplant list.

"The liver is functioning properly right now, it's just the blockages come on so fast you can't plan or do anything," Erjavec said.

Erjavec has been in and out of the hospital the last few months with infections. Unable to work or do much else, doctors told him his best option was to find a living donor now.

"I personally did want to be a donor, but our blood types don't match. So then we had to start looking elsewhere," said his wife, Amy Erjavec.

That's when Behm jumped into action.

Since she took the sign to the Pirates game, the family said they have gotten an overwhelming response from people asking how they can help

"I just feel blessed that I can help my Uncle Jim out like this because truly, when I say that he is just one of the most deserving people that you can meet, I mean that with all of my heart," Behm said.

You can see if you're a match HERE.

TRENDING NOW:

This isn't the first time someone turned to a sporting event to find a donor.

PREVIOUS STORY: Pens fan brings sign to game asking for kidney

She found a donor after waving a sign at a Pittsburgh Penguins game.

Ashley Pritchard also asked for help for her father at a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game in December.

So far, 70 people have stepped forward willing to be tested as a possible donor for David Pritchard.

The 58-year-old Cranberry Township man has already had one kidney transplant and has battled tongue and tonsil cancer, as well as thyroid cancer.

He was diagnosed in May 2018 with Stage 5 kidney failure.