#KristaStrong

(Photos of my mother's stay at OSU Wexner Medical Center, and the constant reminder of the nameless hero that made living into her senior years possible.)


It all started on a dreary day in 2006 when my mother, Krista Collins, was diagnosed with Crohn's. In 2012, my mother started getting very sick all the time and was in a lot pain. She lost so much weight and could barely eat. Doctors thought it was her gall bladder, so they removed it. After her surgery, her condition did not improve... Fast forward to 2015. Several doctors and hospitals later, we finally got a diagnosis: PSC. PSC is short for Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. This disease causes blockage and damage to the bile ducts inside and outside of the liver, and only a small amount of Crohn's patients develop this secondary disease. This disease can eventually destroy the liver... which is exactly what happened to my poor mother. She was one of the unfortunate ones. This disease reeked havoc on my mother's liver and caused irrevocable damage. In October of 2016, we were informed that my mother would need a liver transplant. The liver she had then was fading fast, and she wouldn't have but a few years left if she didn't go through with the transplant. With thoughts of not being able to be there to meet her grandchildren or watch me (her daughter) graduate from college or get married, she knew what she had to do. She went through the testing to be put on the transplant list. Not long after officially getting put on the transplant list, we got the call and down to OSU we went. She is now at home and recovering, but there is another worry that looms over our family's heads: medical bills. In order to survive, my mother has to pay 25% of the costs of the surgery, which is upwards of $200000. 

That is why I turn to you, our friends, family, humbled masses, to possibly help us on this endeavor. Any little thing helps!

❤❤❤