The Villalva Family

Villalva Road to Recovery

Goal: 200,000

2022¬ - 2023 Medical for Jessica, Sharon and Thomas

Hello everyone,

Thomas Villalva, Jessica’s father for the past 27+ years.

Sharon is the wife of Thomas Villalva.

Jessica and her mother Sharon Villalva and family need help.

To briefly explain, 8 months ago Jessica was rushed to the emergency room at RWJ Hamilton and was quickly diagnosed with Acute Liver Failure. She had to be moved to the ICU and intubated to be placed on a ventilator for life support. As RWJ Hamilton is not a liver specialty hospital the medical staff determined she needed to be transferred to a liver specialty facility. It took 1 day still in the ICU to find a place to be transferred to. That place ended up being UPENN Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. UPENN is rated in the top 1-3 liver specialty/transplant hospitals in the country.

At UPENN, Jessica was admitted into the ICU in critical condition. The medical team was outstanding and started to treat her condition with high urgency and professionalism. They also spoke with and prepared Jessica’s family for every outcome. This included a meeting with a liver transplant evaluation team, as there was a possibility that she would need a liver transplant. They explained the positive and negative aspects of a liver transplant and what it would entail.

As she was being evaluated hour by hour, her extremely high liver enzyme of 9750 (should be 0-50) started to decrease. Jessica remained in intensive care, still in critical condition, for 6 days. On that 6th day, still in the ICU, she was taken off life support and was able to breathe on her own. She remained in the ICU for about another week as her liver started to recovery by the power of her own body and professional expertise and medicine. This was a positive turn in the right direction. After those few days, her vital signs began to normalize. She did still require additional care, and remained in the hospital for over a week. It was finally determined she was moving in the opposite direction from requiring a liver transplant.

After a short time, she was discharged and transported to an Acute Rehabilitation Center to gain her mobility and strength as she was atrophied from being immobilized. Once she was discharged from PENN medicine of Princeton she was able to come home. At home now, Jessica has doctors’ appointments and follow-ups on monthly bases. Also, from the extreme trauma to her body, she has developed intestinal problems. 6 weeks ago she had to have a liver biopsy as her enzyme levels are still higher than normal and her liver specialist is attempting to determine why.

To provide more information, Jessica has recently graduated from Rutgers University and was looking forward to starting her career in Occupational Therapy. She was supposed to take her board exam in August but was unable to due to her condition. She is now preparing to take them soon.

On top of that, Jessica has been a caretaker of her mother who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 13 years ago. At this time Sharon has not been able to walk or move easily. Five weeks ago, while attempting to get out of bed, she collapsed on herself and fractured her foot/ankle. She spent a week in the hospital and her MS was treated with steroids. She is now in a rehabilitation hospital with a soft cast and has been there since.

She receives Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, however is not able to stand and pivot to transfer to a toilet or wheelchair without assistance. The doctors and specialists are assisting with ideas to update handicap and medical equipment at home. We will now need to find full-time help for Sharon.

Additionally, Thomas (husband/father) has advanced Type-2 diabetes and is on many medications. 5 weeks ago, Tom suffered a ruptured bicep tendon. Cannot lift or put pressure on the right arm. He is also going to therapy now for his injury. We aren’t sure if he will need surgery yet.

We have to handicap the house more to support Sharon’s needs. Medical bills are starting to come in, lost wages from not being able to work, and additional medical help at home (nurses, therapists).

We stay strong as a family and lean on one another for support. We have come to the conclusion that we could use additional support and decided to give this a try. So, thank you for reading our story.

Any considered support you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your consideration!