Dear Friends, Family, & Compassionate Readers,

My name is Amelia and I am requesting your help on behalf of Troy Garrett (my partner) and myself. On November 7th of 2023, Troy was transported via ambulance to the hospital due to severe abdominal pain. After many blood tests, cat-scans/MRIs, etc., we were informed that he has liver disease and was septic. He was given an intense antibiotic treatment in the hospital. After a scary week, he was released and began 12 day outpatient course of antibiotics through a picc line with local doctors. Luckily, at that point, he seemed to be feeling better. While he was recovering, we scheduled an appointment to see a hepatologist at NYU Langone, but the soonest availability was March 25th.

Fast forward to February 1st, 2024, Troy's legs began to swell. We took another trip to the hospital and were told it we would need to speak to specialists as a transplant was needed. The appointment with NYU was moved up due to the urgency and a 2nd appointment was made at another hospital to get two opinions. We traveled to Manhattan on February 16th to meet Troy's hepatologist at NYU Langone where he went through several more tests and steps to get onto the transplant list. Another appointment was made for the 4 days following to go to the transplant center. After meeting the team on February 20th, they decided to admit Troy to the hospital due to the severity of his test results and to fast track the process to get him on the National transplant list. On Tuesday, February 27th at he was officially added to the National list. We were told that at any point, we could get the call at any time.

Well...that call came on Friday, March 1st, 2024. We have a liver! It all happened so fast and we are so grateful that in just a couple of short days, Troy will be on the road to healing. While this is amazing news, we were also hit very quickly with the fact that our finances were going to be impacted.

Due to his condition, Troy has not been able to work, and I now will need to take time from work to take care of him during his healing process. He will require months of serious precaution from germs and anything that can cause problems with his recovery. We have spent hundreds of dollars in travel to and from NYC and will have continued spending in the coming days/weeks while we go through this process.

While we have applied or are currently applying for all benefits and sources of help we may be entitled to, this help could take up to 5 months to go into effect leaving us with an immense amount of stress of how we will make ends meet in the coming months. With uncertainty surrounding our financial future during this difficult time, we are kindly asking for help and support from our friends and family. Any and all help is so greatly appreciated! We promise to update as they come.

With sincere gratitude,

Amelia