Becky's transplant support
Donation protected
Help Becky through her journey while waiting, having, and recovering from her transplant a far distance from home.
Hello Family, Friends, and Community,
We want to thank everyone for all of the thoughts, prayers, and love that you have extended to Becky during this difficult time. We, (Dave and Bonnie Athey), Becky's parents have set up this Go Fund Me page to help Becky with living expenses in Cleveland Ohio throughout the transplant process. Becky is expected to have to stay in Cleveland for a year.
Becky is a wife, and mother of 3 boys- Connor-2yrs, Dillon-13yrs, and Garrett-26yrs. Becky is also an RN and has had to quit working due to her illness.
This is my daughter, Becky Clark. I am her mom, Bonnie Athey. She has had a long journey to get to this point. I will start at the beginning and tell you her story.
In 2011 Becky's life took a drastic change due to her health. It was discovered that she had sphincter of Odi dysfunction. The disease is complicated but in simple terms it doesn't allow her pancreas to function as it should AND instead of providing life-support functions, instead it caused her pancreas to develop the progressive, incurable disease called Chronic Pancreatitis. This disease is a debilitatingly painful and quality-of-life-reducing condition.
Over the next year she spent much of her life in hospitals for diagnostic tests, total parentral nutrition (TPN) feedings to combat malnutrition, many CAT scans, MRIs, blood draws, and procedures. She endured 12 ERCPs (very painful procedure) and aggressive stent therapies over 9 months.
At this point her pancreas was in complete failure and had to be removed. She was then referred to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. On March 2, 2012 she underwent an 18-hour surgery to remove her pancreas, spleen, part of her stomach, part of her small intestine, and an Auto Islet cell transplant. She did well for a couple of years but was unable to ever come off of insulin. This has left her a very brittle type 1 diabetic.
The last 6 years have been very difficult for Becky and her family. She has spent more time in the hospital than at home with her famly. She has undergone multiple abdominal surgeries for blockages which has left her with short bowel syndrome. She deals with gastroparesis which causes nausea and vomiting if she eats anything by mouth. She has dysmotility and now has been diagnosed with intestinal failure and now is in need for a pancreas, stomach, and small bowel transplant. She has been getting her nutritional support through total parentral nutrition (TPN) through her central line since December 2016.
And if this isn't enough, she has had 9 pulmonary embolisms at different times over the last 6 years, as well as several GI bleeds.
Thank you so much for reading her story. We greatly appreciate anything you can give and of course your love and support has been embraced by Becky.
Help spread the word!
Hello Family, Friends, and Community,
We want to thank everyone for all of the thoughts, prayers, and love that you have extended to Becky during this difficult time. We, (Dave and Bonnie Athey), Becky's parents have set up this Go Fund Me page to help Becky with living expenses in Cleveland Ohio throughout the transplant process. Becky is expected to have to stay in Cleveland for a year.
Becky is a wife, and mother of 3 boys- Connor-2yrs, Dillon-13yrs, and Garrett-26yrs. Becky is also an RN and has had to quit working due to her illness.This is my daughter, Becky Clark. I am her mom, Bonnie Athey. She has had a long journey to get to this point. I will start at the beginning and tell you her story.
In 2011 Becky's life took a drastic change due to her health. It was discovered that she had sphincter of Odi dysfunction. The disease is complicated but in simple terms it doesn't allow her pancreas to function as it should AND instead of providing life-support functions, instead it caused her pancreas to develop the progressive, incurable disease called Chronic Pancreatitis. This disease is a debilitatingly painful and quality-of-life-reducing condition.
Over the next year she spent much of her life in hospitals for diagnostic tests, total parentral nutrition (TPN) feedings to combat malnutrition, many CAT scans, MRIs, blood draws, and procedures. She endured 12 ERCPs (very painful procedure) and aggressive stent therapies over 9 months.
At this point her pancreas was in complete failure and had to be removed. She was then referred to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. On March 2, 2012 she underwent an 18-hour surgery to remove her pancreas, spleen, part of her stomach, part of her small intestine, and an Auto Islet cell transplant. She did well for a couple of years but was unable to ever come off of insulin. This has left her a very brittle type 1 diabetic.The last 6 years have been very difficult for Becky and her family. She has spent more time in the hospital than at home with her famly. She has undergone multiple abdominal surgeries for blockages which has left her with short bowel syndrome. She deals with gastroparesis which causes nausea and vomiting if she eats anything by mouth. She has dysmotility and now has been diagnosed with intestinal failure and now is in need for a pancreas, stomach, and small bowel transplant. She has been getting her nutritional support through total parentral nutrition (TPN) through her central line since December 2016.
And if this isn't enough, she has had 9 pulmonary embolisms at different times over the last 6 years, as well as several GI bleeds.
Thank you so much for reading her story. We greatly appreciate anything you can give and of course your love and support has been embraced by Becky.
Help spread the word!
Organizer
Bonnie Athey
Organizer
Laramie, WY