A Battle Beyond Measure — A Story of Strength, Faith, and Unimaginable Courage.

From the moment she was born, she’s been fighting for her life. You see, Mykalah was Born with Short Gut Syndrome & she received her first transplants as a baby — and despite every single challenge since then, she kept fighting.

Fast forward to April 2019, she was called in once again for second round of organ transplants.

By 2020, things were finally looking up. She went back to school for medical billing & coding, determined to build a career and a future. But in 2023, her organs began to fail yet again. As they deteriorated, she found herself back on the transplant list for a third time, all while battling insurance denials, disability hurdles, and the crushing exhaustion of daily illness.

Every day meant hooking up to a feeding port twice, enduring immense physical pain, and pushing through overwhelming fatigue — until eventually, she had to stop working altogether.

January 2025, she was told she may never leave the hospital again until she received the call for the next round of transplants. Another blow to her mindset. Another hard look at the isolation of watching tv while being confined to a hospital bed & on occasion getting to go to the bathroom or walk the hall. The smallest of victories were being celebrated.

Then came February 14, 2025 — Valentine’s Day of this year. Around 7 PM, the call came in: there were new organs waiting.

When you receive "the call" you've got to be in position to get to the hospital & then the transplant hospital within hours or risk your position on "the list".

She was Life-Flighted to Omaha for her third round of transplant surgeries the next day. Whether, availability, harvesting complications, there are so many intricacies that most are never aware of that create such a level of life changing & life saving anxiety.

One 16 hour surgery shifted to two 8 hour surgeries because the swelling was just too severe. The doctors reluctantly decided were set 2 days apart which was yet another risk for the health of the organs & her likelihood of reasonable recovery.

But what followed was yet another nightmare no one could imagine.

Complications began immediately — severe lung and kidney issues — and soon, the doctors discovered something unthinkable: the donor organs were infected with Lyme disease and CMV.

She endured two pleurodesis surgeries (one on each lung), countless drains and tubes, hundreds of scans, and dozens of painful procedures. After six months of nonstop fighting, just when she started to stabilize, her lungs began to fail again due to CMV and PJP pneumonia.

Then came another devastating diagnosis: PTLD — a rare form of cancer. Started the chemo treatments in the mix off all the above.

Then after another round of lung collapses, she was placed on a ventilator. When that wasn’t enough, doctors moved to VV ECMO — life support — all while she continued dialysis for her kidneys.

This young woman has endured what most of us couldn’t survive for a week — let alone 30 years of life. Three rounds of organ transplants. Two battles with cancer. Nearly 50 surgeries. Years of feeding tubes, ports, and hospital stays.

Through it all, she has fought with faith, courage, and the will to live.

And now — for the first time — They’re asking for help.

My son and his wife have given everything: emotionally, physically, and financially. They’ve faced more loss, stress, and hospital nights than most entire families will in their lifetime.

So today, on my birthday, my only wish is this:

That anyone reading this will pray for them, share their story, or contribute whatever they can to help ease this impossible burden.

Please — share it with your friends, your church, your coworkers, your community. Every prayer, every share, every act of kindness matters.

These two are warriors. They love each other deeply, and they’ve never stopped believing that there’s purpose in their pain — that this test will/ or is becoming their testimony. Their hope is that their story will an inspiration to someone going through the biggest challenges of their life.

From the very core of my heart, thank you for taking the time to read, to care, to share and to pray.

May God bless you and yours — always, and in all ways.

With extreme faith, gratitude & hope,

Mario