"Help Laura Survive this rare battle"

My heart is heavy as I reach out on behalf of my sister-in-law Laura Bronson. She is a devoted wife to my brother Gary, nurturing and loving mom to her 3 children, adores and helps to raise her 4 grandchildren ages 1 month-9 years. Gary and Laura have always worked hard to provide a good life for their family. With Laura's new medical diagnosis they are left with one income and mounting medical bills. 

On January 22, 2019 Laura was taken to Denver Health Medical Center to have surgery to close a small hole that never closed following the surgical removal (Oct 11,2017) of a football size benign tumor located in her abdomen.
Over the last 5 weeks Laura has been in the ICU endured 17 surgeries, intubated for 6 days followed by the placement of a trachea which is a tube placed in her airway to help facilitate breathing. She will require 2 more surgeries and 2-3 more weeks in the hospital before being discharged to a rehabilitation facility to help rebuild muscle loss due to her lengthy stay in the ICU.

Despite receiving blood thinners she developed blood clots in the major arteries that supply blood to her intestines. Unfortunately her intestines were irreversibly affected and rehabilitation is NOT possible. As a result her surgeon had to remove over 90% of her small and large intestines. Subsequently she had 4 more surgeries to place a jejunostomy tube(j tube) which is a small plastic tube inserted through her stomach into the small amount of intestines she had left to deliver food and medications. Her body rejected all 4 attempts at placing a j tube and there wasn't enough intestines left to try again. Sadly this means Laura will NEVER eat or drink water again for the rest of her life.

Her only option  left is to rely on TPN which is a liquid nutrition given to her through her veins everyday for the rest of her life. She will also be given fluids through this vein for hydration. This comes with many life threatening complications from long term use including TPN induced liver damage, risks of infection  or clots  to the central veins where the cathetar is placed...therefore causing risk of NOT being able to access a vein to continue nutrition and hydration leading to malnourishment and severe dehydration. 

Without Laura's small intestines and relying on TPN , she faces many more battles such as skin changes, vitamin deficiency, mouth sores, hunger pains, muscle weakness, exhaustion and more.  

Laura's surgeon is nationally and internationally recognized and we know he is the reason she is alive. Unfortunately he says her case is very rare and there is no data to be found. He has been in touch with a surgeon in Omaha to begin the necessary process for an intestinal transplant as Laura will not live a long or quality life on TPN. Her only hope for survival is a transplant and costs will be $400,000. Laura's medical insurance has a cap(maximum) amount they will pay for patient care and she has reached her maximum so they will NOT cover any costs associated with the transplant .  They also said they would only cover 1 month of her TPN once shes discharged from the hospital leaving them to pay out of pocket costs of $3500 a month for her nutrition.

If you can help support Laura in her battle by making a donation and sharing it to your network we would greatly appreciate it!!
We do understand that not everyone will be able to make a financial donation and want you to know your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated!!  I will continue to update you on any new information concerning Laura along the way.

Thanks so much,
Audrey Bronson