Albans, WV and has always had a giving and nurturing nature, always putting others before herself. She always wanted to go back to school and become a special education teacher, however she put off doing so until our daughter was older and in school. In the meantime, she worked in a day care so she could take Alanna with her and spend as much time building that mother daughter bond. When the day c
ame Natasha went back to school and continued to work until she got her master’s degree in special education. She started her teaching career at Riverside High School and eventually transferred to South Charleston High School teaching special education science and math. Needless to say, she fell in love with the kids as they did with her. While she was able to teach, she never “worked” a single day. Unfortunately, it would not be in the cards for her to continue the career she worked so hard to acquire and loved so much. When excitedly heading out the door for work with many things planned for her kids during home coming week she fell on our porch. She broke her back shattering T-10 through L-1 vertebrae. Emergency surgery was performed, and it has been all downhill from that point. While she did try to return to the career she loved, she simply was not able to because her back did not heal correctly. At this time, we decided to go to Cleveland Clinic, there a second back surgery was done to correct the first. While she was now able to stand straight, her journey was far from over. An infection set in around the spine and brain and she became septic at which time she was given 50/50 chance of living. Years prior to her fall she had been diagnosed with gastroparesis, a condition that causes paralysis of the stomach. As well as non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver on top of being diabetic. As luck would have it, the area of her back that she broke contains nerve bundles that control the entire GI system. There was extensive nerve damage which not only affected her GI but also caused severe back pain, leg pain plus foot drop on the left side. Another surgery was done to place a spinal cord stimulator. Again, Natasha was dealt a poor hand due to the fact she had to choose which pain was worse the back or leg. Only one set of leads could be placed due to spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spaces withing the spine) and scar tissue. Walking long distances became increasingly difficult and she needed a wheelchair for performing life’s necessary tasks. Since her GI issues continued to grow (inability to eat, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain to name a few) her team at Cleveland Clinic began to run a battery of tests. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with global dysmotility (paralysis of the entire GI system from the esophagus through the intestine), ineffective esophageal motility, and non-functioning colon. As a result, they ultimately, had to remove her stomach, part of her small intestine and create a loop ileostomy. After the stomach removal she was not able to sustain herself nutritionally and had to go on TPN (total parenteral nutrition through a port in the chest) and use a feeding tube for medications. While she improved slightly, she still had a long way to go, and the GI system continued to fail. At this point her medical team in Cleveland started looking at transplant as an option for her. Over the years she has been in and out of the hospital for various reasons related to her multiple conditions. A benefit was planned for Natasha last year to raise funds for testing, travel and ultimately transplant. Then COVID hit and placed everything on hold. We were in holding pattern until restrictions lifted because the team felt that was the safest option at the time. After meeting with the team, the decision was to “try” a gut rehab surgery to help ease symptoms and hopefully get a couple of years before transplant had to be done. So last October Natasha went into 9-hour surgery. During surgery her colon was removed, her loop ileostomy (temporary) was switched over to an end ileostomy (permanent), another section of her small intestine was removed, connections were reconstructed and the TPN port was removed. Natasha did some better after surgery but once again it was short lived. The nausea, pain, and vomiting all returned as well as the inability to sustain herself nutritionally. Therefore, she was once again placed on TPN and all hopes of improvement were once again dashed. After several more trips and testing at Cleveland the team determined the only option was a multi-visceral transplant. This will include transplanting a stomach, duodenum, liver, pancreas, and small intestine. Natasha will have an end ileostomy the rest of her life but if all goes well with the transplant, as we pray that it does, her life will be far improved. Even after all that she has been through and the years of pain and suffering she is still hopeful that one day she will get back to teaching and her “kid.”
Without the transplant Natasha will continue to worsen, her liver will ultimately fail as the TPN is extremely hard on an already sick liver. Although the TPN is keeping her alive it does not provide everything she needs and poses a high risk for line infections. Thank you for taking the time to read this abbreviated account of Natasha’s story and journey. We thank you in advance in support of her cause. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Dwight Morgan 304-415-6439
