Chicago area teen waiting for liver donation as he battles two life-threatening diseases

A high school media coordinator is fighting two life-threatening diseases. Usually 18-year-old Brody Lynch tells other people's stories, but now his story needs to take the spotlight.

A camera in hand makes Brody more comfortable.

"Everyone at Bremen High School is just very, very nice, and I'm very grateful for everyone here," he said.

Brody is the media coordinator at Bremen High School, which means some days he needs to get b-roll of empty boxes. He's just not used to an audience.

"It feels weird," he said.

Usually, Brody is shooting and editing someone else's story, but when CBS News Chicago put the School Spotlight on Bremen, we learned about Brody.

"Two years ago, during my junior year in January, I was diagnosed with a rare liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis," he said.

This fall, he was set to leave for Arizona State University.

"Had all the suitcases ready to go, and we got the phone call on Tuesday. We were to fly out on Friday and being told not to go," said his mother, Andrea. "So, that was devastating."

Andrea and Brody's dad, Michael, a media teacher at Bremen, broke the news to their son.

"My medical team called at the University of Chicago, and said it would be a good idea – not a good idea, but you know, but the best idea – to stay home, because I would need a liver transplant as soon as possible," he said.

As he waits on a liver from a living donor, he also needs radiation and chemotherapy.

"Two weeks ago, I was diagnosed with bile duct cancer," he said.

He fights two diseases while working alongside his dad.

"He kind of checks in, does what he's got to do, and he does it on his own. So it's more of a co-worker relationship now than a father-son, but it's a lot of fun to have him in school every day with me, yeah," Michael said. "I wish it was that he wasn't here, and that he was at Arizona."

Brody's parents can picture him there someday, telling stories and not worrying about his own.

Brody is need of a living donor liver. Anyone who is interested in donating can fill out a form on the UChicago Medicine website.

Brody is also up for a National Student Production Award for a documentary he shot and edited about a friend who lives with a rare genetic disorder.