'Thanks' just not enough

LOGAN — It's been 2 1/2 "wonderful" years since Mike Strauss underwent his life-saving liver transplant, but he is still searching for the right words to thank the 53-year-old woman who donated her liver.

To him, "thank you" just isn't enough.

The unidentified woman allowed him more time to play catch with his kids, teach them to respect others, and most importantly, the privilege of telling Bradley and Coulter, his wife, Lisa, that he loves them.

"That's the most embarrassed I've been in my life with the fact I've haven't written a 'thank you,' " he said. "Everyone keeps telling me to just say 'thank you.' "

Although he has never formally thanked the woman's family, the sun never rises or sets without him thinking of her and thanking her in his own way.

"I think about my donor every day," said Strauss, 39, who is entering his eighth year as the sports information director at Utah State University. "I see the scar in the mirror every day, and I'm so thankful I have it. I love it. People say get vitamin E and put it on the scar to make it go away. I don't want it to go away. I want to remember what someone did for me."

The upside down "Y" shaped scar measures 11 across and 4 1/2 inches high and serves as a daily reminder of her gift. He also has 29 other reminders — the number pills he takes each day to fight off rejection among other things.

Strauss suffers from Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC).

PSC is a chronic disorder that effects the ducts outside and inside the liver. Because of inflammation, the ducts become thickened, narrowed and eventually obstructed.

Doctors don't know what causes it and patients who have it usually die within 10 years if they don't receive a transplant.

Strauss fought the disease for years before receiving the transplant.

Olympic snowboarder Chris Klug also suffer from the disease. Football Hall of Famer Walter Payton died of cancer he contracted because of PSC.

THE DIAGNOSIS: At 21, life couldn't have been much better. Strauss was dating Lisa and he was one year away from finishing school at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

He was involved in intramurals at college and began noticing he was constantly rundown.

"No matter what it was I would get tired," said Strauss, who graduated from CU with a degree in journalism is 1987. "I didn't know what it was."

At first, doctors thought he was anemic, but they weren't convinced. They sent him to the Mayo Clinic for more tests, which eventually revealed the liver disease.