Help Support Olivia on her Road to Recovery

On the morning of August 13th, Olivia's parents, Kristen and Ed Colarusso, rushed her to the Geisinger Wyoming Valley ER due to her throwing up a coffee grind emesis,  projectile vomiting, yellowish skin and her not being her normal self. The hospital ran some lab work and a urinalysis, which showed an extremely high elevation of her liver enzymes of over 7,000. The ER doctor told Kristen and Ed that Olivia needed to be life flighted to The Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) immediately. Olivia was admitted to the PICU, where she continued to have increasingly high liver enzymes. As a result, this also caused extremely high ammonia levels which caused irritation and swelling in her brain. This irritation and swelling led to her having a clinical seizure that lasted approximately 14 minutes. Also, she had multiple sub-clinical seizures, the longest lasting 30 minutes. All seizure activity was along the right side of her brain.  That evening, Olivia’s overall clinical status was rapidly declining. Her parents and medical team had to have the hard discussion of placing her on the list for a liver transplant since her liver was failing. 

In the mid afternoon of August 14th, her parents met with multiple surgeons and a transplant team. They told them that she was placed at the top of the transplant list. Unfortunately, there were no matches for Olivia available to save her life. The only option left to save Olivia was a liver transplant with the hopes of a parent or family member being a match. Kristen immediately asked the surgeons if she can be tested to be a match for Olivia. Kristen was tested at the hospital of Penn Medicine to see if she was a match for her daughter. That same night, the surgeons told Kristen that her liver would be a very good match. This is an extremely rare case for a parent to be a match for their child so luck was on their side. The surgeons explained to Olivia's parents that they would need to take 20% of Kristen's liver to save Olivia's life. Kristen was immediately admitted next door to CHOP at 8pm at The Hospital of University of Pennsylvania (HUP). 

On August 15th at 10am, Olivia and Kristen underwent simultaneous liver transplant surgeries. Part of Kristen's liver was removed by the same surgeons who operated on Olivia. They walked Kristen's piece of liver through a tunnel that connects both hospitals to Olivia’s operating room to place in her body. During Olivia's operation, she also had her gallbladder removed to stop future complications from this surgery and make the liver transplant go more smoothly. Kristen's surgery lasted around 7 hours and Olivia’s lasted around 9 hours. Ed waited with his father in law, Rick, in the waiting room at CHOP.  Kristen's mom, Linda,  waited for her to come out of her surgery at HUP. 

Kristen spent 1 day in the ICU recovering, then 4 days on a medical surgical floor recovering. Olivia spent 7 days in the ICU, which whom her father was by her side every minute of the day. The things Ed had to watch and go through with his daughter is something a parent should never have to witness, all while his wife was at another hospital undergoing a major surgery to save their daughter's life. 

On August 22nd, Olivia was transferred to a medical surgical floor, where she had spent every day being monitored to be medically cleared to participate in an inpatient rehab.  Everyday, Kristen and Ed watched their baby girl make even the smallest of milestones. As parents, we tend to take even the smallest things for granted like your child being able to blink or even smile. For their situation, it is uncertain to what Olivia’s ability is going to be post surgery due to her swelling of the brain. Each day Olivia proves to everyone that she is one strong and fierce little girl as she continues to make progress every day. Kristen and Ed  spent 10 full days on a medical surgical floor watching their daughter fight for her life and make even the smallest of milestones.

On September 1st, Olivia was officially cleared from a medical surgical standpoint and is now being admitted to an inpatient rehab within CHOP. Olivia will work on OT, PT, and Speech Therapy. 

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers during these tough times in their lives. Olivia is truly one of the strongest little girls we all know! She is making more and more progress each and every day, however, her road to recovery has just begun. It is at this time we ask for your love and support through donations to help the Colarusso's with their medical bills, lifetime medications and expenses.