Benefit for Tyler Kirkman
This is Tyler Kirkman. He is from a small community in Mississippi. Tyler is 30 years old. He has a daughter name Mallie who is 8 years old.
About a year ago he started losing weight drastically. He was becoming nauseous and retaining fluids in his abdomen and lower legs that caused him severe pain. After seeing a specialist who ran tests and did biopsies, it was confirmed liver cirrhosis.
The diagnosis was actually “decompensated liver cirrhosis”.
Meaning that the liver can no longer repair itself as it normally would. The body can no longer compensate.
His only hope for survival is a liver transplant because there is no other treatment plan for this.
His symptoms include Acites (fluid in the abdomen & lower extremities),
spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (infections from the fluids), esophageal varacies (vomiting blood), nausea, extreme fatigue, weakness, confusion, slurred speech, and inability to urinate normally.
His eyes are also beginning to show signs of jaundice but not his skin at this time.
As his condition has worsened, he now gets anywhere from 10-12 LITERS of fluid drained off of his abdomen WEEKLY. If this fluid is not drained by paracentesis, it will essentially drown him internally as it has potential to reach his lungs. Because of this, when he’s super full of fluids, he also has a very hard time breathing.
He’s very weak right now and on top of this, he has a massive hernia in his abdomen.
His last prognosis given was 6 months.
Tyler has been recently forced to quit his job. This means he no longer has insurance to cover the cost of this terrible disease. His family is having to pay for the paracentesis weekly which is around $300 each time he has fluid drained.
I can only imagine what this family is going through with watching the health of their loved one decline so rapidly. It has to be hard and on top of that they have to worry about how to pay for these things.
He was hospitalized about 2 weeks ago because he lost consciousness.
He was taken to the ER and they found that his ammonia levels were high (Common in cirrhosis) so they admitted him. The ammonia levels caused him to become weak & have slurred speech & then he fainted. He was taken my ambulance. His daughter was with him when this happened.
Tyler is from a small community in Mississippi. He is one of the most helpful, kindhearted, always willing to lend a hand people there are. He loves animals, and he would take all abandoned ones in if he could. He loves big.
With him being sick and progressively getting worse I would love for him and his daughter to be able to spend some time together doing things she loves and would remember. Maybe a trip somewhere, shopping, or just whatever she wanted to. Also, if we could help take a little of the burden off of his family so that they can enjoy time with him that would be amazing.
All funds will be used for possibly a vacation or continued hospital care for Tyler. Maybe they could get enough to take a Disney trip or something!!!
