My name is Beverly Setzer. I am 53 years old and I am currently living with end-stage liver disease and all of its challenging symptoms. I have cirrhosis of the liver which was caused by a condition called Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis. When I was pregnant with my first child, I developed gestational diabetes. This and a subsequent gall bladder attack and removal eventually led to cirrhosis. I am currently on a waiting list for a liver transplant and had a procedure done in January called a TIPS. This was intended to alleviate the swelling in my abdomen due to ascites, or fluid in my abdominal cavity. Along with strong medications, I was having 10 liters of fluid drained from my body weekly.
After the TIPS procedure, this symptom lessened but the trade-off was now I began suffering even more from another problem caused by liver failure. This is called Hepatic Encephalopathy. It’s a big name for brain fog. Imagine being trapped in your own head and trying to function and communicate but you just can’t get it out. It can be subtle or can hit me like a freight train with seemingly no rhyme or reason. As a Director of Finance for our local convention center, you can imagine how significantly this affected my ability to perform well at my job. After short-term disability ran out, I attempted to return to work but was fired because I wasn’t doing my job well enough.
So here I am. After being foreclosed and evicted from the home I’ve lived in for 23 years, I am living in a rented townhome and running out of means to provide shelter, health insurance and even food for myself. I have exhausted all of the retirement funds and savings I had worked so hard for and face the long uphill battle for disability assistance as well as the knowledge that my health will have to get even worse to be considered a candidate for a liver transplant which would, by the way, quickly alleviate all symptoms and allow me to return to a productive life.
I have never asked for help like this and have often been in the position to give it but really have no choice now. Please help.
