Scars that cover Robyn Flamand’s body are evidence of what she calls a torturous disease.

"The everyday is torture. It’s the word I always come up with," she said.

Chronic itching and fatigue are just a few side effects she experiences from primary biliary cholangitis, or PBC.

"With the itching being so severe, it affects everything. It pretty much rules my life right now. "

The 42-year-old mother of four was diagnosed with the auto-immune disease three years ago. Since then she said her life has been on hold.

Flamand said no treatments have worked and a liver transplant is her only option.

"I’m finding myself always saying, after transplant I’ll do this, after transplant I’ll do that. So there is light at the end of the tunnel but it is very far."

Doctor David Peretz is the medical director at the Manitoba liver transplant program. He said PBC typically targets women in the prime of their lives, ages 30 to 65. Simply put, he describes it as an allergy to the liver.

"For a reason that we don't fully understand, the body starts attacking the portions of the liver, the bile ducts, the tubes that drain the liver," he said.

Dr. Peretz said in many cases the disease is caught early enough to treat with medication, but some patients do need transplants.

"But that being said, the success rate with transplant is excellent."

But Flamand believes the chances of her getting a liver from a deceased donor are low.

"Even though I’m still at a higher need, it's kind of a different need. I am not on my death bed. Whereas someone who is, they would obviously receive it.”

Robyn Flamand’s

She said her only option is for someone to come forward as a living donor, and give her part of their liver. If that doesn't happen, Flamand said her quality of life will slowly deteriorate.

"It would just get worse for me over time and I would pretty much be bed ridden and holed away from the world."

Something her 17-year-old step-daughter, Tiya Jarvis, doesn't want to see happen.

"She's seen me at my worst, she's seen me at my best and I definitely want her around when I graduate."

"It would be a gift,” Flamand said while holding back tears. “It's been quite tough so."

Flamand's transplant would happen through the University Health Network in Toronto. On its website it says living donors give a part of their liver to the recipient, the operation lasts about five to eight hours and the hospital stay is usually five to seven days.

Typically the liver grows back and is functioning normally.

Living Liver Donor Program