Stand with Tony in His Fight

Hello all, I am Tony & Shannon Colabianchi’s daughter, Olivia.

In September 2023, my family received the news that my dad had cancerous tumors on his liver. If you know my dad, not much scares him, and he stayed strong for himself and my family. He began receiving radiation in December for the liver cancer. About a month later, my dad received a phone call stating there was a liver ready to be donated to him. He was so excited to receive this offer sooner than we all had expected. On January 21st, he underwent an 11 hour, transplant surgery.

Throughout the first week of March, he began vomiting and having other abdominal symptoms and figured it would be best to go to Cleveland Clinic’s Main Campus downtown, where all of his primary doctors are. He was quickly admitted to the hospital. High contrast scans showed that he had an aneurysm from a graft from the donor that was pushing against his GI tract. He was bleeding internally and received emergency surgery, resulting in 2 stents into the graft, and continual monitoring. He went home the 15th of March.

Within a couple of hours being home, an aneurysm bursted, causing his bowels and part of his aorta to rutpture. He was transported downtown, receiving emergency surgery, reconstructing his small intestines and repairing the aneurysm. There was infection and blood everywhere. The surgical teams tried to clean out the infection as best they could. They used part of his spleen to repair the graft from the donor. During surgery, his heart stopped and had to receive CPR for 5 minutes. He needed 30 bags of blood, which is twice the amount of blood an average body needs, and more.

He made great progress, being able to participate in physical and occupational therapy, eating, and standing up with help. He was set to go to the Clinic’s Rehab hospital in Avon around April 9th to receive further care.

Unfortunately, on April 7th, my family was made aware that the infection had eaten a hole through his aorta and needed another emergency surgery. The surgical teams were able to plug this, but it is a temporary fix. The different teams are trying to make a permanent solution, which may be another huge surgery in the future. This would be very intense, high risk, and hard on his weak body.

He has now been put on dialysis, with a ventilator and heavy sedation for the past week. Different teams - cardiovascular, infectious disease, transplant, nephrology, neurology, etc. are continuing to monitor him day by day because of how critically ill he is. He has gained about 100 pounds of fluids on him around his body, impacting his lungs and ability to breathe.

My parents have never ever been ones to ask for help, which is why my brothers & I are asking for them. My family thought my dad would be back to work in May, but he has a very, long road to recovery that is not fully promised.

Alongside accumulating medical bills for his medical needs, my family has been burdened with medical expenses for my mother, Shannon. She received 6 weeks of home healthcare this January when she had an amputation. She will be undergoing another amputation this upcoming week.

I am asking you to please consider donating to my parents to help with medical bills, household expenses, and even meals. If you are unable to donate, sharing to friends or family would be greatly appreciated at this time.