I’m starting this GoFundMe for 2 reasons. First is to be able to help a living donor financially, should one arise, as they will lose time at work at my expense. Second is to help cover costs associated with the surgery. Living on a limited income because of medical issues doesn’t really leave much room to save for something like this.

Ok, to backtrack a bit. My name is Joey Hannan, and I was born and diagnosed with a super rare genetic mutation which left me with a condition called Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia. Basically, my liver doesn’t have all the required parts to do its job fully, and what is missing are receptors to balance my body’s cholesterol-making abilities. My LDL cholesterol has been as high as the 1000’s before, and that’s not total cholesterol numbers; that’s just the bad stuff. I was diagnosed around the age of 6, and started pheresis treatments around the age of 9, and continued with those until my veins couldn’t support the treatment and I had to stop. Imagine if you will, being 9 years old, barely weighing 100 lbs, and having to go to Pittsburgh every 2 weeks to have all my blood basically pulled from one arm, filtered, and returned to my other arm, usually taking anywhere from 3-5 hours at a time. 9 years old. They could “treat” the condition with pheresis, but it wouldn’t fix the issues. The only thing that can actually fix what I have is a liver transplant. When I was diagnosed, we were told of this being an option, but in the 1980’s the success rates weren’t at a very convincing level yet. No medications would work as the medications would basically help the receptors do their job, but since I have no functioning receptors, medicines weren’t an option.

Fast forward to 2025! So many improvements and advancements have been made in the medical field that this is now an option for me. I was forced to stop working because of the pains associated with tendons that have buildup around, and through them. All of my joints have buildup, called Xanthomas. Some the size of a large egg. Not to mention the 4 cardiac stents I’ve had placed because of buildup in my arteries. I live in fear every minute of every day that I may die from a heart attack at any moment. This has also affected my life in every other way imaginable. Now, for the first time, I have an opportunity to possibly get back to a normal life. Or as close to normal as my body will allow. Over time, after the surgery, we hope that the buildups will regress as they did when I was having my pheresis treatments. I hope to be able to go back to work again, be able to do things with my kids, friends, and family again, the list goes on!

So, what I hope to achieve with this fundraiser is to secure enough money that I will be able to afford the copays and deductibles associated with this surgery, and also be able to provide some financial kick to a living donor should there be one. As it stands now, I’m merely on the waiting list. A living donor means I wouldn’t have to wait for a liver to become available, but instead can do it on our own schedule. If you are interested in learning about, or would like to apply to be a living donor, the website to go to is: http://Livingdonorreg.upmc.com

Thank you for considering to donate to help this get underway, and for consideration on a living donor. Literally any donation is a helpful one! And thanks for taking the time to hear my story!

-Joey