Tara Roberts sat in the shade on a cushioned deck chair on a sunny August day looking content to do nothing but soak in the summer heat.

“I would have been in bed. There was nothing I enjoyed doing other than being in bed, because I was so tired,” Roberts said. “The smallest little thing just took so much effort and energy.”

Roberts was diagnosed about seven years ago with the liver disease Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, a disease people with Crohn’s disease often contract. She was told she’d need a liver transplant later in her life, but the disease progressed faster than anticipated.

Roberts’ condition deteriorated late last summer, and she was put on the transplant list in December of 2008.

“They don’t give you any time frame, because you never know when there’s going to be a donor. You could be on the list for a day. You could be on the list for years. It just all depends on when there’s a donor available,” Roberts said.

Roberts’ doctor called around 8 p.m. June 6 saying a liver was available.

Roberts transplant was unique because it was a split-liver transplant. Because the donor was tall, one woman received part of the donor’s liver and Roberts received the other part, Roberts said. Typically, liver transplants are from a donor to one recipient of similar size, but the split-liver transplant is possible with a tall donor and shorter recipients, Roberts said.

The split-liver transplants are more difficult procedures, but Roberts said she jumped on the chance not wanting to wait for the next opportunity.

“When she said that we have one. I’ll take it. I’ll go, rather than risk waiting and end up a lot sicker and possibly not even getting one in time,” Roberts said. “There was no question — no second guessing. It was: Yes, I’ll be there.”

At the time, doctors and Roberts were looking for a live donor, and Roberts’ brother was checking if he could be a donor.

“You get that call and you kind of just fall apart. I did. I broke down,” Roberts said. “I think it took me a good 15, 20 minutes to recover once I got off the phone with the doctor.”

Roberts traveled to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester that night.

Once the liver became available, Roberts said it was a quick process. After the surgery, Roberts stayed in the Gift of Life Transplant House in Rochester until she was able to go home July 3rd.

Roberts said her Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score was a 17. The highest possible score is a 40, and she said many transplants are done around 25 to 30. She said her condition may have been worse than her MELD score indicated.

“It was a good thing it came when it did,” Roberts said. “My liver, they said, was two times the size that it should have been, and the average liver is the size of a football they say. She said it was like having two footballs in my stomach.”

“You think of it, that’s a lot. That’s huge,” she added with a laugh.

Roberts’ family members spoke with the woman who received the other part of the split-liver, but Roberts never met the woman.

However, Roberts met a man who received an organ from that same donor. The two got to know each other at the Transplant House, and Roberts calls the man her donor brother.

“It’s just a very humbling experience. Just the fact that I know for sure that there’s three people just in Rochester that benefited from the one donor was really neat,” Roberts said.

The two families often ate together, and Roberts said they both could see how much better they felt after the transplant.

Roberts said she looks forward to seeing her donor brother at an annual picnic for transplant recipients and donors.

“It’s almost bittersweet in a way. You’re overwhelmed with joy, but at the same time, there’s kind of a sadness involved. … I know that in order for me to have gotten this liver, another family is grieving and having to suffer,” Roberts said.

Roberts plans to send a card to the donor’s family, but the letter goes through life source. She said they’d only meet if the family wanted to.

“I’m struggling to find the right words,” Roberts said.

“I just don’t know if there’s an adequate phrase of words to say thank you. … Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough,” Roberts said.

Roberts still needs to avoid crowds. She wasn’t able to make a yearly trip to Michigan with her partner, Dave Rasmussen, for a Nascar race. However, Roberts celebrated her 37th birthday with family and friends this summer, though Roberts said she tells people she’s 29.

“My mom and I have both been 29 for several years now …” Roberts said laughing. “Twenty-nine again. I forget how old I really am.”

Roberts is looking forward to starting the school year. She is the high school secretary at Alden-Conger, and she said she’s looking forward to interacting with students again.

Roberts said she had little energy before her surgery, to do things with Rasmussen, and her children Zack, 16, Alicia, 14, and Kayla, 12.

“Before surgery, I went to work for five hours then came home and went to bed. Pretty much was in bed until I got up to go to work the next day,” Roberts said.

Zack recalled his mother’s color during that time as yellow, and said that has improved along with her energy level.

“After surgery, it’s been full steam ahead. I find myself not in bed at all — hardly at all. We’re always going somewhere and doing something. We’re just constantly busy. I think the kids are getting to a point where they want me to start slowing down.”

“To enjoy life again, it’s just amazing,” Roberts said.