VALLEY CENTER, Kan. (KWCH) – A Valley Center mother is in need of a new liver, a situation made more challenging by medical complications.
“They thought I was gonna die, they were preparing my family for the worst,” Kaleena Shipp said.
Shipp has been battling Crohn’s disease since she was a teenager. The condition caused her to develop liver disease, which now requires a transplant. Just before Christmas, doctors at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota informed her that she would only be able to get the transplant through a living donor.
“It devastated me because, you know, I would hate to be that person to try and ask somebody, ‘Hey, you know, you wanna try and see if you can be a donor. You know, because that takes them away from their lives, their kids, their jobs, and whatnot you know?’” Shipp said.
Family becomes caregivers
Shipp’s youngest child is about to start high school. One of her children, Kamrie, and Schipp’s mother, Sue Patrick, serve as her caretakers.
Shipp has to travel more than two and a half hours to Kansas City for treatment because the Wichita area does not have liver specialists to help her.
“So I started to go leave school a little early and go to Kansas City with her to doctors appointments once a week, 3-4 times a month, just depending on that,” said Kamrie Shipp.
Medical complications create challenges
Due to her liver issues, Shipp experiences episodes of hepatic encephalopathy, more commonly known as brain fog. Her family says this can make caring for her difficult sometimes.
“I was in the middle of one of her extremely bad brain fog episodes and I was driving around the city trying to find her ‘cause she told me she was at Walmart. Well, how many Walmarts do we have in the city?” Patrick said.
Shipp says if she doesn’t receive a liver transplant at some point, she may only have a decade left to live.
“My only option, to live any type of life, is to get a living donor,” she said.
You can learn more about Schipp and her health journey here: nkr.org/XYS389. There is also a GoFundMe established to help her with health and family needs.
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