Support Roberta on her Road to Recovery!

In October 2022, our family was told that our mom, Roberta Meyer, was in end-stage liver failure. She was diagnosed with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and was placed on the national donor registry. Given the progression of her disease at that time, her doctors estimated she had a year left to find a donor.

Since that time, she has taken several medications to relieve various symptoms including jaundice, uncontrollable shaking, and an excess amount of ammonia. She has also undergone repeated procedures to remove excess liquid from her abdomen, often many liters at a time. Despite these efforts, her health worsened significantly over the last 10 months. She lost a large amount of weight as well as muscle mass, causing her to become quite frail. She began to move and speak at a much slower pace.

Our family is so incredibly grateful to share that our mom underwent a liver transplant on August 5, 2023. In just a short period of time since the operation, she has regained her normal coloring and her speech has improved. We are very happy to report that her doctors and transplant team are all pleased with her progress so far.

While the transplant is a tremendous gift, it is by no means the end of our mother’s health journey. She will need to stay in the hospital for at least 7-10 days post-surgery, then have regular check-ups at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis (90 miles from her home) for several weeks afterward to ensure the liver is functioning properly and that her body is not rejecting it. This is all on top of the last year’s worth of doctor’s visits, medications, hospital stays, trips to Barnes pre-surgery, gas, hotels, etc.

Our mother’s illness forced both her and our father to retire earlier than planned, and they are currently fostering a young child. If you know our family, you know how difficult we can find it to ask for help, but medical expenses are quickly adding up so we are seeking donations to help provide financial assistance for our parents at this time.

We appreciate any and all contributions to our fundraiser. If you’re unable to donate, just sharing the link to our mother’s story will be so helpful.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has reached out to offer support during the last few days/weeks/year. It means more to our family than we can say.

⁃ Laura & Claire