This is the last thing I want to do. She needs help. My 19-year-old daughter Molly has been suffering with pain since she was around 12. I had taken her to the doctor and emergency room all through middle school. Every time, they told her the symptoms and pain were due to anxiety. She kept telling me the doctors made her feel like she was crazy, so she stopped complaining and just dealt with the everyday pain.

Molly graduated from Pembroke High School and went off to college, still suffering with the pain, but she “trained” herself to not let it impede her life. She attended classes at Emmanuel College and came home on weekends and holidays to work at Starbucks. She seemed to be doing okay; the pain was bearable for her, and most of the time she was happy and sociable. Sophomore year, she decided to transfer to UMass Boston. She wanted to commute to classes so she could work on the days she didn’t have class. She was a full-time student but still managed to work at Starbucks roughly 32 hours a week, and she was also on the Dean's list. That lasted until October 2024. Molly woke up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain. I took her to Beth Israel in Plymouth. She was admitted and stayed for about a week. Doctors ran all sorts of tests and imaging but couldn’t really pinpoint what was wrong. They sent her home with a referral to a G.I. doctor. Before we got to see the G.I. doctor, she ended up back in the ER again with the same issues. We were able to get into the G.I. doctor quicker, and by some miracle, the doctor took one look at her labs and said, “I’m so sorry, but I believe Molly has PSC, an autoimmune disease that attacks the bile ducts of the liver. We have to run some more tests to be definitive.” In November 2024, she had a procedure called an ERCP. They went down her throat with a camera into her bile ducts and cleared a blockage that was causing the pain. These blockages cause scarring in the ducts and basically start to destroy the liver.

Since November, she has had 9 ERCPs to clear blockages, has been hospitalized 12 times, and has become weak and malnourished due to the extreme nausea the disease causes.

Molly had to withdraw from college and take a leave from her job. Most days, she is too fatigued to even leave the house. In April 2025, Molly started the process of transplant evaluation. We just got confirmation she will be listed for transplant on June 22,2025. Luckily, I have medical insurance that covers a lot of the cost for hospital stays and most of her meds, but I can’t always pay her other bills, car payment, insurance, stuff like that. I know that once she does get a transplant, the anti-rejection medication is expensive, and of course, I will figure out how to pay for those. I just don’t want her to have the extra burden of keeping her car, insurance, and paying her student loans without being able to work for most likely another 2 years. This is something no 19-year-old should have to deal with. So if you can donate something to help Molly with the extra costs so she doesn’t have to stress about it on top of everything else, it would be so appreciated. If you can’t donate, then if you could please share, that would help as well!

Thank you,

Kathy

(Molly’s Mom)