As some of you may know, this last year hasn't necessarily been one of the easiest of years for mom.

A little over a year ago, we started to notice some unusual changes with mom's overall health. After multiple trips to the doctor's offices, appointments, and blood work, her doctors could not pinpoint what had been causing the amount of swelling she was enduring, as well as the yellowing of her eyes, and so much more. She always said she felt great and never complained of any pain.

If you know Nancy, she is a warrior. She is tender, kind, and selfless to the utmost. Her personality is vibrant, and you can always count on her to make you laugh when you need it the most. She's a great listener, with pure hospitality and genuinely cares about others, always putting others' needs above her own.

After getting a referral to the Cleveland Clinic for further testing, after what seemed like forever, our new team of doctors narrowed down her diagnosis to one thing that blew us all away.

Cirrhosis of the liver.

For someone who has never drank, smoked, or abused her body, besides cookies and ice cream on occasion, we were stumped as to HOW this could have even happened.

Doctors quickly called this condition Non-Fatty Liver Disease, but we're not exactly sure what caused it. As her astronomical amounts of tests performed showed that she was completely healthy!

As the tests and appointments continued to roll through, and she worked full-time 10-12 hour shifts, five and sometimes seven days straight, she spared some much-needed time off for our family vacation to Ocean City, Maryland. Rest assured, we couldn't stop talking about all the things we anticipated doing while we were there. About a month before we packed our bags to head out of town, another detrimental roadblock made itself known. She contracted sepsis, and within hours her body went into septic shock. Her blood pressure dropped so low that in the ambulance they couldn't even get a reading. Mom spent 3 nights in ICU, all with the underlying scare of the unknown outcome with her liver being severely compromised. She was bound to a walker for quite a few days and had extreme amounts of pain and swelling in her right leg from the cellulitis.

In true mom fashion, her positivity, determination, and strength got her back on her feet and she was able to make it on our trip.

I know it may be hard to believe, but it's true, mom had yet another setback during that time. Rite Aid had closed many of its doors, leaving her now jobless, within a month of our return home from Ocean City.

With what news we'd received from mom's team of doctors, we were astounded. They wanted to start all the pre-testing for a spot on a liver transplant list. However, the remaining income she obtained quickly got tied up in medical expenses, health insurance, fuel, meals, and so forth.

On November 11th, we received a phone call we had been waiting on for what felt like an eternity. They had a liver match for mom!!

We quickly sprang to packing our bags for the nerve-wracking hospital stay, but a hospital stay that would change our family's lives forever.

The anticipation for surgery ran wild, as we received a call from the surgeon who said the mortality rate was greater risk with her heart performance so they stopped the surgery for transplant. We now have endless questions and yet another hurdle to overcome in getting her heart stronger for the future.

We cannot be more thankful for our friends, family, and support during these times.

After much thought and reluctance, we're reaching out as we've now found out, mom is without any income until March of 2025.

Your thoughts, prayers, support, and continued friendships mean more than words to us during this time.

We want you to know that any donation is without a doubt a blessing and we are truly grateful for any amount of support along the way!