Anne Marie's Medical Fund
Donation protected
Many of you reading this know Anne Marie Calligas or someone in her family. This page has been set up after multiple requests from friends and family wanting some way to help her on her current medical journey.
Louis and Catherine Calligas are the parents of two amazing daughters, Isabel (6) and Anne Marie (5). Anyone who has met Anne Marie or knows her story knows she has been a fighter since even before she was born, during what was a very complicated pregnancy. Louis is an attorney at Balch and Bingham who adores his two little girls. Catherine is a teacher, most recently at First United Methodist First School, a frequent volunteer at her daughters' schools, and a Girl Scout Daisy troop leader. Other parents and her co-workers will tell you she has spent many years caring for others' children like they were her own.
Anne Marie has been sick and in and out of hospitals since she was born prematurely in February 2015. She has had a team of doctors since leaving the NICU that include a neurologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist, gastroenterologist, hepatologist, and nephrologist, in addition to receiving feeding therapy and speech therapy for a speech condition stemming from a brain hemorrhage she had while in the NICU. For nearly six years the family has become very familiar with multiple, expensive medical bills and many prescription medications, all while Anne Marie's health has continued to deteriorate despite test after test after test.
In June the Calligas family finally received a diagnosis that may explain most (not necessarily all) of Anne Marie's health problems. Anne Marie has been diagnosed with Abernethy's Malformation Type 1b, a condition so rare that as of 2008 there were only 22 known cases of it since it was discovered in 1793 (there are other types, but they are also exceedingly rare). This diagnosis means Anne Marie has no portal vein, which is the blood vessel that carries blood from the stomach, intestines, spleen, etc. into the liver. About 75% of total liver blood flow comes through your portal vein, and it is detoxified there. Without a portal vein, the blood bypasses the liver and flows straight into the inferior vena cava of the heart. Because her blood is not being detoxified, Anne Marie has accumulated a dangerous amount of ammonia in her blood over the years that is damaging several organs, including her brain, liver, and kidneys, and causing a wide array of other symptoms as well.
There are only two centers in the world - one in Paris and one in Chicago - that have the expertise and specialize in treating and correcting Abernethy's Malformation. Only one of Anne Marie's current doctors had even heard of Abernethy's Malformation as it is so rare. After receiving Anne Marie's diagnosis, Catherine contacted Dr. Riccardo Superina, considered the world's expert on this condition, at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.Dr. Superina told her he believes he can correct this problem, which will at minimum save Anne Marie's liver and kidneys but may also alleviate many of her other medical problems. He is currently sorting through years of Anne Marie's medical records and images to plan two surgeries that will hopefully correct the condition. Catherine has remained in contact with his nurse practitioner and office coordinator weekly, and while the exact travel date to Chicago is still to be determined it looks like it will fall sometime around the first week of August, and they should plan on at least a six week stay. The current COVID pandemic has made the logistics and planning of an already difficult situation even harder as the family tries to figure out travel arrangements. The Ronald McDonald houses in Chicago and other similar facilities are not closed, but because the Calligas family is coming from Alabama ( a state on many travel ban lists), they will not be able to use these resources and instead will have to pay for a hotel room close to the hospital for the entire stay. Louis will need to travel back and forth occasionally for work and to see Isabel, who will most likely be staying in Montgomery, while Catherine remains in Chicago with Anne Marie.
Catherine has spoken with the mother of a former patient of Dr. Superina's who lives in Australia and who traveled to Chicago last year for the same condition and two surgeries. These surgeries are extremely complicated and can have a difficult recovery. If everything goes as planned in Chicago, Anne Marie will need to continue follow up visits with Dr. Superina every three months for at least a year after the initial stay in Chicago.
Please keep sweet Anne Marie in your prayers and her family as well during this extremely difficult time. Any donation to help them out is greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much! Laurie Kirkland
Louis and Catherine Calligas are the parents of two amazing daughters, Isabel (6) and Anne Marie (5). Anyone who has met Anne Marie or knows her story knows she has been a fighter since even before she was born, during what was a very complicated pregnancy. Louis is an attorney at Balch and Bingham who adores his two little girls. Catherine is a teacher, most recently at First United Methodist First School, a frequent volunteer at her daughters' schools, and a Girl Scout Daisy troop leader. Other parents and her co-workers will tell you she has spent many years caring for others' children like they were her own.
Anne Marie has been sick and in and out of hospitals since she was born prematurely in February 2015. She has had a team of doctors since leaving the NICU that include a neurologist, cardiologist, pulmonologist, gastroenterologist, hepatologist, and nephrologist, in addition to receiving feeding therapy and speech therapy for a speech condition stemming from a brain hemorrhage she had while in the NICU. For nearly six years the family has become very familiar with multiple, expensive medical bills and many prescription medications, all while Anne Marie's health has continued to deteriorate despite test after test after test.
In June the Calligas family finally received a diagnosis that may explain most (not necessarily all) of Anne Marie's health problems. Anne Marie has been diagnosed with Abernethy's Malformation Type 1b, a condition so rare that as of 2008 there were only 22 known cases of it since it was discovered in 1793 (there are other types, but they are also exceedingly rare). This diagnosis means Anne Marie has no portal vein, which is the blood vessel that carries blood from the stomach, intestines, spleen, etc. into the liver. About 75% of total liver blood flow comes through your portal vein, and it is detoxified there. Without a portal vein, the blood bypasses the liver and flows straight into the inferior vena cava of the heart. Because her blood is not being detoxified, Anne Marie has accumulated a dangerous amount of ammonia in her blood over the years that is damaging several organs, including her brain, liver, and kidneys, and causing a wide array of other symptoms as well.
There are only two centers in the world - one in Paris and one in Chicago - that have the expertise and specialize in treating and correcting Abernethy's Malformation. Only one of Anne Marie's current doctors had even heard of Abernethy's Malformation as it is so rare. After receiving Anne Marie's diagnosis, Catherine contacted Dr. Riccardo Superina, considered the world's expert on this condition, at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.Dr. Superina told her he believes he can correct this problem, which will at minimum save Anne Marie's liver and kidneys but may also alleviate many of her other medical problems. He is currently sorting through years of Anne Marie's medical records and images to plan two surgeries that will hopefully correct the condition. Catherine has remained in contact with his nurse practitioner and office coordinator weekly, and while the exact travel date to Chicago is still to be determined it looks like it will fall sometime around the first week of August, and they should plan on at least a six week stay. The current COVID pandemic has made the logistics and planning of an already difficult situation even harder as the family tries to figure out travel arrangements. The Ronald McDonald houses in Chicago and other similar facilities are not closed, but because the Calligas family is coming from Alabama ( a state on many travel ban lists), they will not be able to use these resources and instead will have to pay for a hotel room close to the hospital for the entire stay. Louis will need to travel back and forth occasionally for work and to see Isabel, who will most likely be staying in Montgomery, while Catherine remains in Chicago with Anne Marie.
Catherine has spoken with the mother of a former patient of Dr. Superina's who lives in Australia and who traveled to Chicago last year for the same condition and two surgeries. These surgeries are extremely complicated and can have a difficult recovery. If everything goes as planned in Chicago, Anne Marie will need to continue follow up visits with Dr. Superina every three months for at least a year after the initial stay in Chicago.
Please keep sweet Anne Marie in your prayers and her family as well during this extremely difficult time. Any donation to help them out is greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much! Laurie Kirkland
Organizer and beneficiary
Lauren Kirkland
Organizer
Montgomery, AL
Catherine Thomas
Beneficiary
