Magdalena Goldheart

Let’s help our daughter María Goldheart on her difficult medical journey to help her with travel expenses to Philadelphia, time off from work for the next 4 months, and unexpected trips to the hospital. María has been fighting for the past 3 years to get the ulcerative colitis under control with many hospital visits and many unexpected complications. This year, she developed blood clots in her liver after she received the infusion that was supposed to help her autoimmune disease, which put her on a liver transplant list. Doctors were able to place a stent in her liver to try to buy more time. Unfortunately, her medical condition got more complicated after doctors discovered a very rare type of cancer in her lung. Due to the severity of her liver, doctors in Philadelphia recommended removing as much as possible of the cancer through bronchoscopy to buy more time and give her some relief. Three weeks ago, she was examined by the director of Thoracic Surgery at Pennsylvania University Hospital, and he recommended that surgery will need to wait because her swollen feet and liver are not working properly. This type of cancer does not respond to chemotherapy or radiation, and because it is in a very bad spot, too close to the heart and in the middle of her lung, the surgery will require removing both lower lobes of her lungs, which is a very complicated surgery because of the coagulation factor and her ulcerative colitis. Now we are in the process of transferring most of her specialists to Philadelphia to help her recover for the next 3 months and to return for another scan in September to determine if the team of all her specialists will feel comfortable proceeding with surgery. Every trip to Philadelphia costs us $150, and we paid $46 just for 6 pills to control the pain 2 months ago. Also, because of her colitis, she has to follow a very strict diet and supplements, and her doctor ordered she can’t work at least till the end of September. Through all this pain and suffering, many hospital stays, and so much fear of what is next, María remains strong and positive that she will beat this with the help of all the wonderful medical team involved in her care. But we need everyone’s prayers, help, and support as we have reached the end of all our possibilities to help her! María has a loving heart, and her life has been turned upside down before she was able to enjoy her life as a teenager. Let’s show her that she is loved and that she is not alone in her fight!