Isabel Strasser's Liver Transplant Extra Costs

**Any additional funds raised over the amount we are hoping for will be placed in a savings account for Isabel and Aidan for any future medical needs that would come up.

As many of you may know, Isabel was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis in 2014 when she was 10 years old. She then was diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, a very rare liver disease in 2015, and Ulcerative Colitis, Celiac Disease and Graves Disease in 2020. Over the past 10 years, after learning that there was no treatment for Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis aside from a liver transplant, we embarked on a “root cause journey”.

Through this, we discovered that Isabel also had Lyme Disease and CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome--mold illness). She is in remission for Lyme but still deals with fighting off mold as her body is genetically incapable of ridding itself of it. We are confident in the current dr she sees for this issue, but damage to her liver and colon/intestine has been done.

After a year or so of being in and out of the hospital trying to keep her iron levels stable, and trying to find the right medication for the Ulcerative Colitis, it has been discovered that her liver is no longer functioning completely. She has been on the Liver Transplant list since November of 2022. This has its ups and downs for sure. She has been called once as a backup and had to go in once for pre-op for a deceased liver, to no avail. It was not the perfect fit. She has had a donor evaluated who didn’t pass the complete evaluation (it’s extremely stringent) and was not able to move forward in the process.

Her oldest brother, Aidan determined he would go through the living donor evaluation process since a sibling has higher odds of being a match. We just found out a few weeks ago that he is, in fact, a match and he will be gifting part of his liver to Isabel. The amazing thing is that within 4-6 weeks after, he will gain most of his liver back and within the year it will be completely re-grown!

Of course, with all of this comes a cost--both financial and time. They will be in the ICU. Isabel for 10 days, Aidan for 6 days. After this, Aidan will not be able to work for about 6-8 weeks. Isabel will have to also lay low for about 10 weeks. They will also both need 24/ 7 care for a few weeks initially after the surgery.

We know when people hear about all of this, the first question is: “What can I do to help”?

The biggest needs honestly, are financial. Insurance is covering most of the surgery, but of course, there will be costs that come up from the hospital.

After they get home from the hospital, we hope that their caregivers will be able to focus on caring for them and not “what they are making for dinner” so we hope to have the extra funds for a food service/door dash for the Strassers and for Aidan/Jessi for at least a month.

There are also many post-operative items that they both will need for their care that are not items they would typically have the extra money to purchase.

We also hope to carry Aidan, Jessi, David and Julie for any income that could be lost or stretched during this time.

We appreciate each and every one of you who reads this! We thank you in advance for your help. If you would like to avoid the added fee with GoFundMe you can send funds through:

Venmo: @Julie-strasser-2

Paypal: paypal.me/jstrass6864

CashApp: $JulieStrasser7