Brian's Liver Transplant Fund

Hi, my name is Tracy, I am Brian’s sister-in-law.  I need to raise money to help my sister and her family.  I hope that you can help by donating any amount, it all adds up.

Brian is the most loving, caring & giving person, and has been sick starting back in 2009 and needed  a LIVER TRANSPLANT, to save his life.

Brian and Jennifer have been together for 12 years and have 2 daughters, Brianna 9 years old and Caitlyn, 8 years old.   

Over the 11 years after being diagnosed he was sick on and off due to small complications of the disease.   Fast  forward to October of 2019, Brian was in and out of the hospital where they lived in Tampa, FL   5 times for a total of 13 weeks, with the last hospital stay ended in mid March.   During each stay, his health continued to deteriorate; the family was told that his liver was in end stage liver failure and to contact Hospice for end of life care. 

Hospice information was a grim reality for the family that he needed help and needed it now.    With Brian still in the hospital unable to make decisions due to his medical state at the time and inability to communicate,  Jennifer made the decision to put the house up for sale that they built together (which as of today has not yet sold) and move to Jacksonville where the Mayo Clinic is located as well as family for support.

Brian was discharged from the hospital to a nursing home for end  of life care,  within 15 minutes of him at the nursing home, Jennifer picked him up and brought him home...three days later we had their entire house packed and moved them to a rental home in Jacksonville.

Their first week in the rental house,  Mayo accepted him to be evaluated for a Liver transplant  and COVID arrived to our nation and social distancing and quarantine began.  Mayo was no loner accepting new patient appointments  until sometime after Covid bans were lifted.   As you can imagine this was devastating for our entire family.

Now, the family faced having Brian at home, very ill, weak and bedridden, but not ill enough to be in a hospital and not wanting him placed in a nursing home due to the COVID concerns.  Over the next week the family did our best to support the girls while Jennifer cared for Brian.

Within the next week Brian then became ill to the point he required emergency care and was immediately taken via ambulance to the Mayo Clinic.  Upon evaluation they also made the decision to fast track his liver transplant evaluation.  During all the testing they confirmed he was in end stage liver failure.  He was facing many complications, with the worst one at the time being  the pressure built up from the chiritoc liver not allowing blood to flow through like normal.. this is called portal hypertension.   The hospital and drs ran every test possible to exclude other  culprits and after requiring blood transfusion every other day....The decision was made he required a procedure called TIPS.  This would place a shunt in the middle of the liver that essentially allows the blood to flow right past it.  Definitely  lots of risks given Brian's current state.. but this was the only option. 

The procedure was expected to be 2 to 3 hours.   Surgery started at 515pm Thursday April 30th..and was over at 130am May 1st.... 8 hours!!   He was taken directly to ICU and remained intubated until Friday early afternoon.

Next came the complications from surgery .. he had fluid build up around his stomach that also included blood..they put in a drain and over the next 2 days  drained 6 liters of fluid and blood.  The hope was the bleeding would stop on it's own and if it didn't by Sunday they would have to take him back into surgery and go back down the veins they used and his stomach to find it and stop it.  They couldn't transfuse blood fast enough to account for the amount he was loosing.  

Saturday May 2nd. they put him back on the ventilator and did an exploratory procedure.. 2 hours later  they called to tell the family they couldn't find anything...and we must continue to wait as it may have resolved itself by the time they went in to look.  They also placed him on a feeding tube to get all his nutrients and to avoid any additional muscle waste.

Next came the impact of the dye used in the surgeries and the fluid build up his kidneys went into shock and kidney failure.  They placed him on a 24 hour dialysis in hopes that within the next few weeks the kidneys should bounce back.   

Sunday May 3rd  .waiting and watching... 


Monday May 4th  ...his breathing continues to get worse as well and they attempt to have him use a BPIP machine..similar to a c-pap.. this one has a full face mask and forces air at a much higher rate to help him expand his lungs.  While this is all happening hes super weak..can barley say a word sometimes a couple of words..which usually him asking me if he can go home.


Tuesday May 5th ...his breathing worsens and now requires to be intubated 

These complications moved up the transplant list drastically... which is a double edge sword..the worst he gets the better chances he has...

May 9th -- we got the phone call that they had a liver for him and scheduled for transplant on Mothers Day, May 10th!    Surgery went twice as long as expected for 12 hours, he was brought back to his room around 3am,  the surgery went well  and remains intubated and on the dialysis machine.

It is a very painful & debilitating disease, yet Brian does not complain or feel sorry for himself, he never has. He never wants to make it about him. Brian has always been and still is the first person wanting to help others, even as sick as he is. He is an amazing Dad, and he has always been there for his daughters and wife.

Besides the accumulating medical bills,  commuting expenses, child care.    Brian will also be needing extremely expensive medications starting now for the rest of his life, in order to survive.  

PLEASE help Brian and family by donating.

Any amount will be greatly appreciated and will be used for medical bills, commuting,  lost wages and future meds. 

Brian and Jennifer did not ask me to set this up, but it is much needed and they will appreciate it greatly. They never asks for anything, so I am doing this for them. I hope that together we can help & show them how much he means to us.

I hope to raise enough money to keep the family from worrying about anything at this point except to focus on Brian's recovery.    Everyone continues to ask me on a daily basis how they can help the family and this is what I think would help them the most.  

Please share Brian’s story, He truly deserves it, and I want to help him.

Thank you all so very much.
I will keep you all updated.
Tracy