Hope Coates healthcare expenses for pancreatectomy

Hope was 4 years old when she first started to show signs of illness.  Her symptoms started out with severe pain, nausea, vomiting, and fevers.  Unable to eat during these episodes, she would lose weight, become dehydrated, and double over in pain.  She was hospitalized over and over again.  It took 6 years for the doctors to discover that she had a genetic mutation of her pancreas that causes chronic pancreatitis, the development of pancreas stones and strictures to the connecting ducts to her liver and small intestines. She has had 6 surgeries since 2016. Her next procedure is scheduled for Dec. 4, 2019.  In the meantime, we will be traveling to the Children’s Hospital and Pancreas Center in Cincinnati October 14-17th to have them perform specialized testing to see if she is a candidate for a total pancreatectomy with islet transplant to her liver.  This will end her everyday severe pain she endures, but it is a high risk, expensive surgery. She will be in the ICU for 2-4 weeks in Cincinnati(8 hrs from our home)if she is approved by her doctors.  

More about my girl: Hope is now 13 years old.  She loves playing roller derby more than anything else in the world.  So much in fact that she told her doctors that she will decline the needed pancreatectomy if they tell her she can’t play. Life is about quality, not quantity and being Hopeless #B2 aka PollyRocket on the track is what she values. She’s willing to fight to be healthy and play the sport she loves. She plans on doing both and I don’t doubt her strength. Having that wisdom at her age makes me take stock about my own beliefs and the way I live my life.  

Please donate if you can to help us care for her.  If you can’t donate, then please share our link. 

If you are looking to volunteer, find your local children’s hospital and offer to provide a meal for the parents in a wing of that hospital. Every little bit helps. 

Thank you,
Roller derby ❤️and always have Hope.