When organist Mark Hamrick, Class of 1973, plays “Nearer My God to Thee” at the 125-year-old Monongah Baptist Church, it is VERY personal.

The FirstEnergy retiree’s wife, Margaret Hamrick, who is from Tennessee, has been to Hell and back in her battle with cirrhosis.

The California girl from Oceanside, Monongah’s Barbara Marsh, the widow of Dennis Toler, killed in the Farmington #9 mine explosion a half-century ago, details the frightening and heart-warming story in her Monongah News column in the Fairmont Times:

Tragedy To Triumph,

One Woman's Story

By Barbara Marsh

When I started writing some 30 years ago I told John Veasey that I knew everybody has a story and I wanted to know them all. I have since been afforded the opportunity to go out and find them for myself.

There are love stories, adventure stories, stories of mystique, murder stories, funny stories and then there are stories like the one you're about to read. A story of love and bravery, challenges and many disappointments along the way. A story of a family that struggled to try and understand why so many lives had been lost to what they now must face.

This is the story of Margaret and Mark Hamrick of Monongah. Primarily it is Margaret's story, but of husband Mark's as well as he, too, seemed to feel his loving wife's every pain.

It all began in March of 2014, the excruciating, horrific muscle spasms that fought their way through Margaret’s legs. She had never had muscle spasms in her whole life and could get no relief. Her only alternative was to head for the emergency room at United Hospital Center. After a plethora of tests the only thing they seemed to find was low magnesium. She was referred to a hematologist in Morgantown.

For several months and with repeat blood monitoring to rule out hemochromatosis, she was referred to a gastroenterologist. After three visits, an ultrasound and an MRI, Margaret was informed that she had a fatty liver. At a follwup visit to the hematologist, the resident blurted out that Margaret had cirrhosis.

Her own mother's life had been shortened by cirrhosis and, knowing what she had gone through, Margaret was devastated. The gastroenterologist asked her at her next appointment if she would be willing to have a transplant. She replied that she really didn't want to put her family through that hardship. The doctor told her that she was being selfish.

She was referred to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center but the facility kept putting off her appointment. When Margaret called the gastroenterologist office, the assistant there was a dispute with her insurance company. Margaret was referred to the Cleveland Clinic.

Her first appointment at the clinic was on May 4, 2016 with a Doctor Carey. There is a model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scoring of 1 to 40. Normal numbers for a person her age should be 13. By her next appointment in September, Margaret’s number had escalated to 17. Dr. Carey said that, if she didn't have a transplant, she would have 3 to 12 months to live. At this time it felt surreal because she didn't feel badly at all.

Margaret needed time to think, so she asked advice from family, friends and co-workers. They convinced her to have the transplant. Margaret and her husband spent the week of November 14 at Cleveland Clinic being tested to see if she would be eligible for the transplant. Some 32 vials of blood were drawn on one of those days. EKGs, stress test, x-rays, MRI, vaccinations, you name it, she was even given a shot to kill any parasites she might have picked up in the Philippines!

The following week was her first hospitalization. She had to go into the hospital at WVU the week of Thanksgiving with acute kidney failure and hipatic encephalography. Ammonia wasn't being filtered from her blood and that can cause problems with your brain. There was confusion, lethargy and foggy thinking. While she was in the WVU hospital she received a call from Cleveland Clinic telling her that she had been accepted by Uno's, Cleveland area, and Cleveland Clinic.

For her husband and her sons to maintain their jobs, it was necessary that her daughter-in-law quit her government post and stay with Margaret around-the-clock except to keep her own appointments. Margaret’s husband or sons were with her during those times.

In November, the hospital began paracentesis to remove the acites with six being removed every six days. It was a very uncomfortable experience and she felt as though she looked like she were about to have triplets. She would go in with tight pants and leave with them nearly falling off. WVU has a limit what they will remove but she was producing much more than they were approved to remove. By the time she was ready for her transplant, 130 L had been removed from her abdomen. That's an equivalent to 65 2L bottles of pop.

The next step was approval of her insurance company. She had many conversations with the wonderful ladies at the company  and they approved her transplant.

Early December found her in the hospital again and she realized that she could no longer perform her job. Between the hepatic encephalography and muscle spasms, she was forced to take a leave of absence. While still in the ER, she got her first offer of a liver. Unfortunately she was so out of it with the HE and was not healthy enough for the trip to Cleveland. There was about a 75% chance that this liver might not work well, so she turned this offer down.

Margaret returned to WVU hospital again in early February 2017. While there, she received an offer and was taken to Cleveland by ambulance. While in the operating room hallway waiting to go into the OR she was so exhausted that she fell asleep. The surgeon came out and had to awaken her to tell her that this liver did not work out. There was no explanation due to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act laws.

Margaret remained in the hospital for two weeks because doctors found additional health issues that needed to be addressed so she woud be stronger for the next offer. High sodium, high potassium, acute kidney failure and low blood pressure which measured 59/29. She also found out that she had E.Coli in her acites.

Margaret was out of the hospital for about 10 days when she received her third offer. Her son had taken the place of her daughter-in-law for a couple of days and he rushed her to the hospital. The rest of the family hurried to Cleveland. There was a blizzard blowing into the Cleveland area and the wind was so bad on March 1, 2017 that semi-trucks were being turned over on the Interstate.

On May 2 at 5 p.m. Margaret was taken down to have her transplant. She was both excited and nervous. The family all said their "I love you’ s"and off she went. Under the bright lights of the OR, she talked to the anesthesiologist who told her he just got a great day's sleep so he was working fresh. Dr. Hashimoto, one of the four surgeons, talked to her, and they did their high fives, as she told him that he had beautiful hands.

Upon awakening Margaret’s next realization was that she had tubes sticking out from everywhere. There were two tubes down her throat, tubes out her neck, both arms and an IV. She was in ICU for 36 hours and before being moved to a room. She could have been out of the hospital within 6 days if it hadn't been for a reaction to the PIC line that was taken out of her neck. Her daughter-in-law and Margaret had to stay in Cleveland, close to the hospital, until April 1. The motel room started to seem like it was closing in on them.

Before Margaret returned home, because of the fear of dust, her family had to tear out all the carpets in her home and put down linoleum. Her son added a shower to the half-bath downstairs since she couldn’t handle steps for a few months.

Over the next several months Margaret had to subsist on cocktails of anti-rejection medications they have recently tapered off to four. Over the past year-and-a-half, blood labs have decreased from twice a week to once a month. She lost 120 pounds during the first six or eight months due to fluid and medication causing the loss of appetite. She still has to limit high potassium foods, wear a mask in public during cold and flu season and go through a lot of hand sanitizers. If she hears a cough or sneeze, she quickly will look around to see where the culprit might be. She doesn't hug or get close to children because of the fear of germs. She doesn't touch door knobs ( makes her husband look like a gentleman), shopping cart handles or steering wheels after someone else has touched them. She washes all vegetables because others in the store may have handled them. She cannot go to a buffet because of the germs on the handles or in the food.

Despite some drawbacks in her daily living she realizes just how fortunate she truly is. Margaret shared with me that a liver transplant is not a cure; it is a reprieve. Now she has time to enjoy her family and friends and truly appreciate every day of her life, especially since losing not only her mother, but her first cousin, and her mother's first cousin to cirrhosis.

Holding her head high and with a smile on her face she said that the hepatic encephalopathy and medication led to a diagnosis of short-term memory loss, but physically, she adds, "I feel great!"

This family's tragic news turned to triumph after an arduous journey, but since both her sons have fatty livers Margaret fears that eventually both may require transplants.

As we came to the end of our interview, she told me that there were many prayers going up for her from many states, that God was good, prayer was vital and that she could not have made this journey had it not been for a loving family.

Mark has been a life-long member of the Monongah Baptist Church, where the Rev. David Huckins has been its pastor since 1994. Was in the same 1973 Monongah High graduation class with Debra Manzo Vandetta, Class of 1973, wife of Monongah Mayor Greg Vandetta.

Another Hamrick in Monongah, who may not be related to Mark, are Kathy Williamson Hamrick, Class of 1978, who lives in Shinnston with husband Robert Hamrick and is a sister of the late Al Williamson, Class of 1973, who worked for Shenasky Grocery long ago and who helped Amelia Shenasky Zentz keep up her Shenasky Lane house and yard for years.

Al and Kathy’s mother was the late Ruth Elizabeth Hall Williamson, once head cook for Monongah Elementary School and a worker at St. Barbara’s Nursing Home in Monongah.

There’s also the late Phyllis Hamrick Edgell, who lived in Monongah with husband Joseph Edgell, Jr., also deceased.