Hello, My name is Brandi Gatcomb. I'm the proud mother of two incredible sons Harley & Diego. Harley, whom I affectionately refer to as Harley Man is my first born and is 31 years old. Approximately 2 months ago Harley began feeling not himself, not as strong & healthy as he normally would on any given day. At work it became clear to him that something was not right physically, but like many younger men will do he chalked it up to something simple that in a few days would simply go away. However as the days passed he was not feeling better. Infact he was feeling, and now looking much much worse. Both his family as well as his coworkers noticed that his skin & eyes were becoming extremely yellowish (jaundice) and he was feeling and appearing bloated, tired, & his appetite was diminishing rapidly. Once I saw him around the same time; as his mom I knew something was very wrong. From what I could tell he was showing signs of both the jaundice as well as bloating all over, the jaundice being especially noticeable when looking into his beautiful blue eyes. It was as if I'd simply blinked & when I looked at him again he'd gotten 10× worse. And at that point, he was most definitely feeling it. From that day forward nothing has been the same for Harley & all those who love & care for him. We made multiple trips to the Emergency rooms where we live on Oahu in Hawaii & during the third visit they informed us that Harleys liver had completely stopped working & had not been working for an undetermined amount of time. He has severe liver disease and is in the advanced stages of Liver Failure. We were told that he had a MELD Score that had fluctuated between 28% at it's lowest and 32% currently and would need a full liver transplant in the coming weeks (2-3 weeks tops to be specific) in order to survive. During their massive testing they found that his white blood cell count was 24,000 & we were told the normal range is around 11,000. His other organs had begun to show signs of distress to varying degrees due to his liver not working. While still in our home state of Hawaii they kept him hospitalized doing what they could to address the multitude of other health issues that were popping up giving him a variety of medications, vitamins, nutrients, & antibiotics in an attempt to help him to whatever degree they could while also reaching out to hospitals around the country to see if one of them would be willing to take his case & possibly get him on a transplant list asap. We were fortunate enough to receive word the very next day from one of the two Mayo clinics in Arizona, the Phoenix campus that they would be willing to take his case. Harley and myself then flew from Honolulu to Phoenix Arizona on July 21st immediately following his discharge from the hospital. Arriving in Phoenix in the early morning hours of Saturday the 22nd we were able to quickly settle in to our new home away from home in a hotel room directly next door to the Mayo Clinic before beginning what would be a whirlwind of non stop "transplant evaluation appointments" the following Monday morning, the 24th of July. We have only just begun this journey and I find myself in constant awe of my son's bravery, positivity, sense of humor, & his uncanny ability to bring a feeling of calm in the face of such uncertainty. He only recently moved to Hawaii from Flagstaff to be closer to myself and his younger brother after my mother's passing. He has a beautiful girlfriend that he brought with him to the islands, and until this health issues stopped him in his tracks, he was working very hard to build a brand new life in a brand new place with his partner and it was working out beautifully. However, at least for now & moreover the foreseeable future his plans will have to be put on pause while he & I are here in AZ doing every single thing we can, and every single thing we're asked to do in order to get him on the liver transplant list as soon as humanly possible. His infectious positivity and strength, and my immense love and stubborness, along with both of our determination tells me that we'll be able to get him the liver he needs so that he can get back to the life had just begun building back home in Hawaii. My hope for my son Harley is for him to get on the transplant list hopefully within the next few days (fingers crossed ), get a new liver, recover and come back stronger and healthier and happier than he's ever been before in his entire life!! Now, if anyone is wondering, or asking themselves why I'm putting any of this out into the public arena, here is my simple response to those who may ask; I'm doing this for my son's "post transplant life" and all that will come with it. There will be a plethora of lifetime medications, a undetermined post transplant recovery time, both here in Arizona and at home in Hawaii, excess stressors on his finances from medications not covered by insurance, medical bills which exceed his insurance coverage, and any other unforseen financial obligations and/or surprises he won't be able to take care of while recovering. To those fortunate enough to already know Harley, they know what an incredibly genuine, caring, loyal, fun, joyful person he is. For those who don't know him, or just haven't met him yet, simply ask someone who does know him, then you'll find out that it's not just his mother talking him up or saying what any loving mom would, it's the absolute truth. From our entire family, thank you very much for taking the time to read this.
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