Help Rob Get a Liver Transplant
RIP Roberto Arsenio Fernandez Jr 08-30-2021
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My husband Rob, the love of my life and best friend and I just got married on Catalina Island June 18th, 2021. It was the most beautiful weekend of our lives and we were working on buying our first home together and having children, everything was perfect. Literally the day we got back, he started feeling sick, we thought it was COVID. When it started getting worse we took him to the Emergency Room June 26th, 2021 and that is when our dreams started crashing down. We found out his previously transplanted liver was being rejected. The doctors at UCSD have had him on high dosage steroids, blood transfusions, endoscopies, multiple biopsies, antibiotics, lung tests, etc. He is in a lot of pain, moaning every day in the hospital. They said the biopsy showed it could be an infection but they haven't been able to find the infection, so they have him on antibiotics just in case. His liver numbers are not going down, the steroids don't seem to be working, it is still being rejected and highly likely not to survive, the doctor says he will need a transplant. Unfortunately they were unable to put him on the waitlist for a liver transplant even after non-stop checking with several other out of state hospitals/liver centers and with the help of a non-profit guidance (Selkirk Liver Society), more than 50% of people in the US get denied (see article), for a number of reasons.
Now it is life or death (statistics show that over 50% of people in his condition will die within 3 months or less if they do not get a new liver) and this has left us with no other option but to go overseas, called medical tourism. Please help us save my husband's life, any donation even small will add up and help us get the funds to get the procedure done, time is of the essence and he has family that cares about him deeply.
UPDATE 8/7/21: We have finalized our decision on Dr. Gupta at Max Super Specialty Hospital in New Delhi, India. The hospital was recommended to us by the medical tourism company and a local family in San Diego (from India) connected us to them as well, to the head of surgery. Rob's brother Jonathan (donor) and I felt confident in choosing them after speaking to them over a couple video chats. The Kidney team at UCSD will be helping us get Rob in optimal condition to fly, including dialysis for his kidneys that are very impaired now too. The funds from this fundraiser will go towards: liver transplant procedure & hospital stay, air flight/transportation (Rob, Rob's brother/donor, Rob's sister, and myself), and room stay for recovery in India. We have not included additional costs that may arise like additional care that might come up for Rob's condition (dialysis), food/living expenses, and possible costs for a traveling nurse that we are looking into.
Feel free to email me if you have any experience or knowledge with a similar situation OR if you know of a traveling nurse that can help us on the flight: michellad87 at gmail dot com
