Shana LaShomb's Liver Transplant

This gofundme account has been set up to help offset the medical expenses that have been endured by my dear friends Shana and Shawn LaShomb.  I am sharing this story with their permission and hope that you will be able to help with a donation.

Shana and I have been friends since we were 7.  She is a loving wife, mother, and one of the best friends a girl could have.  Shana is an RN who was blessed to be able to quit work after having her children to be a stay at home Mom.  She was able to do so because her husband, Shawn, works extremely hard at a job that requires him to travel away from his family for approximately 2/3 of the year. 

Over the past 18 months, the LaShomb family has endured more physical and emotional ups and downs than most of us will ever experience in our entire lives.  Through all of this, they have remained strong and brave as they continue to live their life with their two young children, Emma, 9, and Benjamin, 8. 

In December 2014 Shana was admitted to the hospital with a very bizarre illness that left doctors very confused as to why she was having the problems she was having.  After a lengthy hospital stay and extensive testing and biopsies, Shana was diagnosed with liver failure in January 2015, however, no underlying cause had been determined.  She was placed under the care of the University of Cincinnati transplant team, who continued to run extensive testing.  They diagnosed her with a rare liver disease and possible liver cancer.  During this time, her health continued to decline and Shana was continually being hospitalized with complications and illness due to her failing liver.  With every hospitalization Shana endured, Shawn stopped working so that he could be home with Emma and Benjamin and do his best to keep the day to day routine at home as normal as possible and provide emotional strength and support to Shana.  In September of 2015, as her health continued to decline, Shana's local doctor transferred her care to the Indiana University Transplant Center in Indianapolis.  After further diagnostics in Indianapolis, she was finally given an official diagnosis of Budd Chiari Syndrome and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.  Both of these diseases are extremely rare and without a liver transplant, Shana's life expectancy is about 2 years.  In December 2015, Shana underwent a partial liver resection, which determined that there was no cancer present in her liver...wonderful news for them to hear, however, her liver function continues to decline every day.  With each new day, Shana faces the unknown of her illness.  Some days are great, others send her right back to the hospital with unimaginable complications.  As of March 2016, Shana was officially placed on the liver transplant waiting list.

As you can certainly imagine, the past 18 months have put a significant financial hardship on this family.  With every hospital stay lasting 5-7 days and the frequency of the hospital stays increasing from every couple of months to every few weeks, Shawn has had a dramatic change in his ability to work. 

All monies raised by this gofundme account will go directly to the LaShomb family to be used to offset medical expenses accumulated from hospital bills, along with travel expenses as Shana continues to be under the care of the Indiana University Transplant Center (the LaShomb family lives 2 hours from the University).   In the event that excess funds are raised, all excess money will be donated to the Donate Life Fund and the American Liver Foundation.

I don't think I really need to say how thankful myself and the LaShomb family will be to receive your donation.   If you are not able to donate financially, please consider being an organ donor.  Organ donation saves lives and I know that one day very soon, someone's donated liver will save the life of my dear friend, Shana!