Juliana's Thymus Journey

I am creating this go fund me page on behalf of my sister in law, brother in law and our sweet niece Juliana.

My name is Juliana Salazar. As of this writing, I’m 7 months old and my family, my doctors and I are in a race to save my life. Sadly, I am one of only about 2 dozen children born without a thymus gland in the entire U.S. last year. The rare condition is called congenital athymia and it’s a result of a chromosome deletion I have called complete 22q deletion syndrome also known as complete Di George Syndrome.

Essentially, since I don’t have a thymus gland, I don’t have an immune system at all. Any type of infection, like even a common cold could kill me or land me in the hospital for months. My family is living in complete isolation for my protection. My dad is able to work from our home in Pearland, Texas. My mom quit her job to take care of me and my older brother, who left preschool because the risk of him getting sick there and bringing an illness home to me was too high. We only leave to go to my doctor’s appointments or to get my prescriptions and groceries in curbside pickup. Financially, emotionally and physically it is hard on everyone.

My doctors said if I don’t get a thymus tissue transplant by the time I’m 2 or 3 years old, I may not survive much longer after that. To further complicate my situation, there is only one hospital in the entire country who does the procedure (Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina) and currently it’s estimated the transplant will cost around $2 million. Even if approved by insurance, financially it will be very challenging to afford the surgery I need to save my life.

So along with my family, I’m asking for help. It’s going to take a miracle, but we need our community and complete strangers to support me in any way they can in this fight.

Thank you for your consideration.

With gratitude,

Baby Juliana Salazar