Jaylon Liver Transplant Journey

UPDATE:

As you know my son Jaylon had a liver transplant October 7,2022. He is a senior in high at Dorman High School. And have been out of school almost half of the school year due to surgery, doctors appointments and sadly hospital stays. He has been hospitalized 4 times since transplant, due to rejection 3 times, bile obstruction, with worsening jaundice, and hepatic artery insufficiency which lead to him having splenic artery embolization and signs of ischemia and

worsening cholestasis. With that being said, unfortunately he is going to have to have another liver transplant. He will be re-listed and we are not sure when the surgery will be. So we are asking for any type of help, support and most importantly prayers. This is going to be rough on all of my family, finically, physically and emotionally. Because I will be out of work again with no financial help, due to me not getting paid on FMLA. So we are asking for help of any type. Medical, travel, lodging, food, and bills. Again we thank everyone for all of your support. Thank you for being on this journey with us.

Hello my name is Naressa, I’ve put this fund together for help with traveling, food, bills, and living expenses. I’ve really had to put my pride aside with this one. But at the end of the day being a single parent and having to care for a sick child, my other kids, and not being able to work, I will say I really need help.

My son Jaylon is 18yrs old, and was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia with Portal Hypertension at the age of 2weeks old. We stayed in the hospital for almost 4 months after the procedure, which is called The Kasai procedure, which involves removing the blocked bile ducts and gallbladder and replacing them with a segment of his own small intestine. This segment of intestine is sewn to the liver and functions as a new extrahepatic bile duct system.

Over the years he had to follow up with his Gastroenterologist and the doctors at MUSC, every 3 month, then it went to every 6 months, with just seeing his doctor in Greenville/Spartanburg. Throughout this time I was told he may have to have a liver transplant, but wasn’t sure if or when he would have it. He was doing good over the years, So at one of his visits with his gastroenterologist, she wanted him to follow up with the transplant team for a liver evaluation, seeing that it had been a while since he seen them. So June of 2022 we had an appointment with the team in Charleston, and at that visit after several test, CT scan, and X-ray we were told he had Esophageal varices, his spleen was still enlarged and his liver was still scarring, which turned into cirrhosis.

He had to have two procedures done, one was called Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunt (or TIPS) which is a procedure to place a small tube between the portal vein of the liver and the hepatic vein. It is used to treat portal hypertension, a condition that develops when cirrhosis of the liver causes a blockage in the portal vein. And the other was Balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) which is a minimally invasive technique that is used to treat gastric variceal bleeding. The procedure involves blocking the dilated vessels, reducing the risk of rupture. It can be used in addition to or as an alternative to TIPS, which is the primary treatment for gastric varices. TIPS aims to relieve the pressure on the dilated vessels by creating new connections between blood vessels in the liver using a shunt.

After that was done he was put on the organ transplant list, which was July 15,2022. While we waited, he had several doctors appointments he had to follow up with in Charleston South Carolina, and we live in Spartanburg South Carolina until we get the call of having a match. During this time I had to miss work, exhausted my PTO.

On October 6,2022 at 11:30am I received the call, saying they found a match for my son Jaylon. I’m happy, excited, scared and sad all at the same time, because my son will be receiving his new liver, and sad because another family lost their loved one that saved my sons life. Jaylon just underwent his liver transplant on October 7,2022 at 1:00am.

So now that I’m out of work on FMLA until he fully recovers, which could be months. My FMLA doesn’t cover short term or long term disability for family members, it only covers for me to keep my job. So while I’m out of work I won’t get paid, and unfortunately life, taking care of kids and bills don’t stop. So with that being said I’m asking for a donation of anything that will help us out with traveling, food, bills, and living expenses while I’m out of work. If you can’t I totally understand because I know, you have your own lives and families, and I thank you anyway.

May God bless each and everyone of you. Thank you all in advance. ❤️