"So we need a new liver?!"
Donation protected
Back in 2015 after some yard work Danny decided to cool off with a cold beverage and put his feet up. Needless to say he ended up vomiting up buckets of blood in the shower! This is where our story begins...
After 3 days in the hospital Danny finally had an EGD (a scope of his esophagus, stomach and the beginning of the small intestine). Thinking it was a fluke and the GI bleed wasn't anything chronic or serious, we learned differently. Danny had esophageal varices, which cast light on some serious liver conditions. The doctor did a ton of labs and long story shortened, Danny has been harboring some Hepatitis B which has eaten away at his liver! He was prescribed a myriad of new medications and had to have a scope every 3 weeks until the varices were gone.
Fast forward to September 2017, Danny is feeling weak, fatigued, nauseated constantly and that's when bad went to worse and we were told his liver wasn't really functioning at all. At this point the only option is transplant. Thanksgiving week we went to Loyola University in Maywood IL to begin the transplant evaluation. It was a long day of meeting a whole team of practitioners that will be helping in this incredibly huge task of getting a new organ.
Starting in January 2018, Danny started the testing required to have a transplant, which included a stress test, EKG, 17 vials of blood, a urine sample, a CT, a chest x-ray and a pulmonary function test. On the chest x-ray they found a nodule in his left lung. So now worse is, catastrophic. The doctors ordered more scans and a referral to a cardio-thoracic surgeon...in Maywood. We scrambled and were able to get a CT guided biopsy of this nodule. Those results were inconclusive.
So in February 2018 he had a left upper lobe lung resection with mass removal. These results were Histoplasmosis, a fungal infection caused by junk in the air. Thankfully it wasn't cancer, however this new diagnosis makes him ineligible for a transplant until it is dormant, which can take up to 18 months to treat. To add to the already expensive line up of medications is the med to treat the lung issue and it's really bad for your liver!
So now June 2018, still ineligible for a transplant, still have the lung thing going on, at the end of short term disability through work and he has a new mass in his pancreas that needs to be evaluated. Trying to keep up with medical expenses, traveling to Maywood over and over, shuffling our kids around has left the well dry. We lost our reliable transportation, getting behind on mortgage, utilities... You name it, we've experienced it and we just need some help!
After 3 days in the hospital Danny finally had an EGD (a scope of his esophagus, stomach and the beginning of the small intestine). Thinking it was a fluke and the GI bleed wasn't anything chronic or serious, we learned differently. Danny had esophageal varices, which cast light on some serious liver conditions. The doctor did a ton of labs and long story shortened, Danny has been harboring some Hepatitis B which has eaten away at his liver! He was prescribed a myriad of new medications and had to have a scope every 3 weeks until the varices were gone.
Fast forward to September 2017, Danny is feeling weak, fatigued, nauseated constantly and that's when bad went to worse and we were told his liver wasn't really functioning at all. At this point the only option is transplant. Thanksgiving week we went to Loyola University in Maywood IL to begin the transplant evaluation. It was a long day of meeting a whole team of practitioners that will be helping in this incredibly huge task of getting a new organ.
Starting in January 2018, Danny started the testing required to have a transplant, which included a stress test, EKG, 17 vials of blood, a urine sample, a CT, a chest x-ray and a pulmonary function test. On the chest x-ray they found a nodule in his left lung. So now worse is, catastrophic. The doctors ordered more scans and a referral to a cardio-thoracic surgeon...in Maywood. We scrambled and were able to get a CT guided biopsy of this nodule. Those results were inconclusive.
So in February 2018 he had a left upper lobe lung resection with mass removal. These results were Histoplasmosis, a fungal infection caused by junk in the air. Thankfully it wasn't cancer, however this new diagnosis makes him ineligible for a transplant until it is dormant, which can take up to 18 months to treat. To add to the already expensive line up of medications is the med to treat the lung issue and it's really bad for your liver!
So now June 2018, still ineligible for a transplant, still have the lung thing going on, at the end of short term disability through work and he has a new mass in his pancreas that needs to be evaluated. Trying to keep up with medical expenses, traveling to Maywood over and over, shuffling our kids around has left the well dry. We lost our reliable transportation, getting behind on mortgage, utilities... You name it, we've experienced it and we just need some help!
Fundraising team (2)
Abby Charfauros
Organizer
Raised $150 from 2 donations
Galesburg, IL
Erica Shinn
Team member
Raised $100 from 1 donation
