Tony Aleprete always enjoyed being an active person, but these days, he doesn't have a choice in what he can do.

Aleprete, a Penn Hills resident, retired two weeks ago as a Giant Eagle warehouse employee and he already misses it.

Having hepatitis C, he didn't have much choice in taking disability retirement at 51. His illness made it too difficult to continue working.

"I worked 23 years in the warehouse for Giant Eagle," Aleprete says. "It kept me in good shape."

He doesn't know how he contracted hepatitis C, but it could have been through group vaccinations he received in the Navy, which used vaccination guns.

"A lot of people in my situation served in the Navy and Marines," Aleprete says.

What Aleprete is sure about is that he needs a liver transplant.

So far, the medical community has not found a cure for hepatitis C. That means Aleprete, a Penn Hills High School graduate, is constantly medicated.

"The treatments aren't too easy. It's like the worst case of the flu," Aleprete says. "I have shots three times a week. When I start feeling better, I get a shot again."

He already had a liver transplant in 2001, but his virus is fighting strong against his implanted liver.

Doctors check his blood regularly to determine the seriousness of his illness, based on a scale that goes from 0 to 40.

Right now, Aleprete's virus ranks at 15.

While working is no longer an option, he says, he doesn't consider himself sick because he is not bedridden. He keeps busy by making home repairs.

Aleprete does not regret serving in the Navy. He was enlisted from 1976 to 1980.

"I was an 18-year-old kid who wanted to see the world," Aleprete says. "Once I did, I had a blast."

One advantage he has found in dealing with his virus is the supportive friends he made by participating in the U.S. Transplant Games, an event he competed in four times. He played on men's basketball teams that won bronze medals twice.

Aleprete already knows what sports he wants to play in next year's event if he is able to compete: track, basketball, golf, table tennis, badminton and volleyball.

If he gets his wish, Aleprete won't travel too far. The games will be held in Pittsburgh in July.

Aleprete always has enjoyed sports. He coached baseball on and off for 25 years in Penn Hills, in addition to flag football.

While playing sports is not an option now, Aleprete says he is happy because he has been blessed with a wonderful family and friends. He has four children, Anthony, 26; Mary, 22; Joe, 18; and Mike, 16, with his wife of 27 years, Linda.

Receiving a donation of a liver will give Aleprete a chance to play sports again. He is waiting to be matched to an organ donated by someone who has passed away.

Helping people like Aleprete is as simple as registering to be an organ donor on a person's driver's license, says Holly Bulvony, corporate communications and public education director for Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) in O'Hara.

"It is critical that people choose to designate themselves as organ donors on their driver's licenses," she says. "Each person designated might save or enhance up to 50 individuals. It is a great and final gift, a legacy that only the individual can make and one that can help soften the grief that a donor family feels should a tragedy occur."

Aleprete is among almost 100,000 people who are waiting for an organ transplant nationwide and among 2,000 people who are waiting for organ transplantation in CORE-affiliated hospitals. About 17 people die nationwide every day because they have not received a donated organ, with two of those people being within the CORE service area, according to CORE's Web site.

Livers are among the greatest needs for organ transplantation. Kidneys, lungs and hearts also are commonly needed for transplantation, according to the Web site.