A father of 3 felt healthy. Then a routine screening found a rare, deadly illness.

Curtis Jackson was feeling fit and healthy in late 2020 when he decided to update his life insurance policy: He was in better shape than he'd been in a while, but he wanted to make sure his wife and three kids were taken care of if anything happened to him. 

Jackson, now 46, underwent an intensive physical, and everything seemed to be going well until he received a strange phone call. The call was focused on a questionnaire he had filled out. Jackson had truthfully marked that he did not drink alcohol. But his liver numbers were those of "a functioning alcoholic," he was told. 

It set off alarm bells. Jackson went to his primary care physician for another round of bloodwork. That doctor thought he had a problem with his gallbladder. Jackson went to have his gallbladder removed. During that operation, doctors found he had an unusual condition called primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC.