Help Sara Raspanti's family

Sara is an active 8th grader at Cimarron Middle School in Parker.  On March 16, Sara was admitted to Children’s Hospital while at her 7th doctor’s appointment in 6 weeks.  Sara has always been a very happy and healthy girl.  She was active in gymnastics and running.   What started as ear pain back in January turned into a diagnosis of a rare disease called Wegener’s Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA).  Sara fought what appeared to be an ear infection with 3 rounds of antibiotics and tubes.  Sara then started complaining of painful swollen joints and spiked high fevers.  That Thursday, doctors admitted her to Children’s Hospital for pneumonia.  Her condition quickly declined and Sara needed a breathing tube and ventilator to keep up her oxygen levels.  After 28 days on a ventilator Sara was finally able to breathe on her own.  

Wegener's (GPA) is an autoimmune disease which causes inflammation of the blood vessels.  In Sara’s case it caused her lungs to fill with blood. Little did they know, GPA would consume their lives and keep their little girl in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for 4 weeks with numerous tests, procedures, and life saving measures that kept her hanging on. She has been so strong and so brave through it all!

After five weeks in the hospital, the Raspanti family is finally home and trying to find what their new normal life will be like. GPA is a life-long disease with the uncertainty of if or when there will be another flare-up.  It commonly affects individuals in the older ages (40-60) so Sara's case is increasingly unusual since she is only 14.

According to published medical articles, after achieving remission, it is possible for GPA to recur (often referred to as a "relapse"). Relapses occur in about 50-70% of people with GPA. Such relapses may be similar to what the patient experienced at the time of their diagnosis or they may be different. The likelihood of experiencing a severe relapse can be minimized by prompt reporting to the doctor of any new symptoms, regular doctor follow-up, and ongoing monitoring with laboratory tests and imaging. The treatment approach for relapses is similar to that of newly diagnosed disease.

This has not only racked up many thousands of dollars in medical bills so far but has forced her father, Tom - a 17 year veteran of the Denver Police Department- to take several weeks off of  work to attend to Sara's medical needs.  His wife, Teri, was also forced to take continuing unpaid leave from her job in the healthcare field to be a primary provider for their daughter. The Respanti family would appreciate some help in defraying the expenses of the long term care of their beloved daughter which could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars during her lifetime.

More information about GPA can be found here; https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/wegeners-granulomatosis