Meg’s Liver Transplant

I’m Meg. I’m a wife and the mother of a 9 year old with special needs. I am a transplant survivor. My late sister, a lung transplant recipient in ‘04, sadly is not. A virus caused my liver to suddenly and acutely fail in August ‘21.

That I didn’t die was a miracle. 

After a year of hospitalization, acute rehab, home care and bedrest, I was transplanted in Aug ‘22.

It’s been a little more than 8 months since my surgery and my new liver is in trouble. (See updates section for specifics…was doing really great until a few weeks ago) Adding to that we have what feels like intractable medical debt. We may need to sell our home. 

Your donation will go toward copays, the 20% of outstanding bills that insurance won’t pay along with future such costs. 

Your support will make a profound difference for our kind, generous and community-minded family. It will also help us to mitigate the effects this ordeal has on our daughter Gloria. 

Thank you and God bless.

Megan (Kelly) Macario 

*GoFundMe origination story below.

Dear Friends and Family-

When I first created this GoFundMe I had just come home from a 2 month hospital stay after nearly dying from acute liver failure. I was terrified. I still am. My family has been through this before - in 2004 my sister Jana’s lung transplant gave her 5 extra years of life. The pain and hardships were breathtaking yet worth it.

As for me, I unapologetically admit that 30 years ago a virus with no name started to quietly attack my liver. Now, my liver no longer filters toxins or metabolizes proteins so my brain gets foggy from too much ammonia and my teeth fall out because they like every other part of my body dependent on good nutrition metabolized by the liver, are dying.

My hair still hasn't started growing back. Things are tough most days. Something hurts every day. Only a new liver will allow me to see my 8 year-old daughter Gloria grow up. Only a new liver and addressing the damage of the old one means everything

It felt important to be the one to set up my own fundraiser for medical deductibles and needed childcare costs to get myself through this. It would have felt inauthentic to see it come from anyone else. 

It also is now clear there are so many things not covered. Like stairlifts and wigs and rides to physical therapy and acupuncture and gloves that protect my hands when i use a cane or walker….and teeth, as in my smile is gone and must be repurchased along with total bone grafting.   

Catastrophic illness can cause intergenerational financial hardship.  I have to replace every single one of my teeth. I can only eat soft food and I never smile. I really need to raise enough to cover this folks. I can’t borrow against my child’s future. She’s disabled herself.

Some days I can’t walk and then a week later I have to learn how to walk again. It’s all so exhausting. This financial cushion is just that, giving a little softness when when I fall on something hard and so things feel as normal as possible for my husband John, my mom Sue, my dad Jack and my daughter - my Gloria. My light and most wonderfully unique mix of laughter and screaming because autism…sigh…every time I leave the house she thinks I am going back to the hospital….and my toothless smile scares her. It is heartbreak. 

If I can’t persuade the people I’ve met, supported, loved, fought for or with , learned or worked with, enjoyed life with m, smiled at, made laugh with my silliness and most of all, shaped who I became in my 50 years, to pitch in a little or a lot or to share this fundraiser with as many people as they can, no one else can.

 I’d like to think I’ve lived and given from and of myself generously enough to not feel ashamed to ask for help for myself. But I do feel ashamed and I do need to keep asking.

My parents are devastated they may lose another child to catastrophic illness and they are bracing for yet another daughter needing and receiving an organ in time to survive. My heart breaks for them.

Even if your generosity must be limited to just love and well wishes for me, it will be cherished. But also please share. 

Yours in hope and love,

Megan (Kelly) Macario ❤️