how to call a variable set in another function

Hi,
In V.NET I have a javascript function that calls a function in code behind. The problem is that I need to call a variable that is defined in another function and gets updated constantly during a very long running process. The function called by javascript needs to get this variable in order to update the user with some progress information.
My question now is, how do I access a variable defined in another function?

Thanks in advance,
Pascal