Friends and family are rallying around Frances Nicholson.

Nicholson, of Eufaula, is waiting for a liver transplant and faces daunting medical costs.

Although insurance will pay for most of the transplant, Nicholson will need costly medications for years to come. Those can range from $2,000 to $5,000 each month, and they are as critical to her survival as the transplant.

Nicholson, 42, said the support of those around her has been essential, especially her family.

“I get a lot of help from my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, husband, children,” she said. “They all help me a lot. My husband will go and eat with them and bring me something back. What makes it nice is that my family is there and can help me. We’ve been married 19 years. I have four kids and five grandkids.”

Nicholson and her husband Phillip have lived in Eufaula since 1999, when Phillip decided he needed to live closer to his aging mother. Nicholson worked in a nursing home for a short while until she injured her back trying to lift a patient.

“That’s when they discovered that my liver enzymes were real high,” she said. “They did a biopsy and discovered I had primary biliary cirrhosis. It’s not caused by drinking or anything; and most who get it are women. They don’t know the cause.”

The Web site for the Mayo Clinic confirms that the cause for PBC is unknown, but it appears to be an immune system disorder that slowly destroys the bile ducts in the liver. Genetics and the environment also may play a role in this disease.

Most of the bile (digestive fluid) that enters the small intestine is returned to the liver for reuse. PBC destroys the small ducts within the liver, slowing and sometimes blocking the normal flow of bile. Over a period of years, the combination of ongoing inflammation, scarring and toxicity from trapped bile can lead to cirrhosis. Cirrhosis involves irreversible scarring of liver tissue that makes it impossible for the liver to carry out essential functions.

Her sister-in-law, Margaret Carlton, 58, said the disease has devastated Nicholson’s lifestyle.

“Up until a year ago she was real active and played with her grandchildren,” she said. “She would get out there on the ground with them and play with them. Now she can’t do that because she gets tired out. She can’t eat because she can’t hold anything down. And she’s depressed; it’s like it’s really hitting home to her what she’s going through.”

Nicholson can’t leave town because she’s constantly on a pager that will notify her if a hospital calls with a transplant donor.

“I can’t take care of my grandchildren anymore because I get confused easily,” she said. “With this disease, you lose a lot of yourself. I don’t go visit people because I get tired and exhausted. But I’m supposed to keep my strength up in case I’m called in for a transplant.

I’ve learned to do things at home. I do a lot of scrapbooking because I want to preserve my memories of my grandchildren.”