Help Shelby! Medical Expenses & Liver Transplant

I am asking you all to help raise $20,000 for Shelby’s upcoming medical expenses, prescriptions, bills, hospital parking, gas money to VGH, after-transplant care, post-transplant accommodations, and more as she prepares for this next medical hurdle.

My close friend Shelby Gielen (Miller) is not one to ask for help with anything… so it is at this time that I am asking you for help on her behalf. As some of you may already know, Shelby, a two-time liver transplant recipient, has just found out that her current liver is in a late stage of chronic rejection. She is going to need another liver transplant in the near future and she is already in late stage liver cirrhosis.

Over the past few years, Shelby has been suffering terribly from other health issues as well. Shelby developed Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia which is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from your face to your brain. Her Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia (ATN) has progressed to the point where she suffers from more frequent bouts of searing pain forcing her to significantly cut back on her jewelry designs. Shelby has been in and out of pain clinics and hospital for surgeries to try and help with the pain for over a year. Her most recent surgery for this was in early June 2018 and more will be needed to control the facial nerve pain that she refers to as “an ice cream head ache that just doesn’t ever go away”.

Shelby is a fighter and no one would know by looking at her that she was suffering from severe chronic pain or in need of another transplant. Knowing the state of her liver, she just won 4 medals at the Canadian Transplant Games last month in swimming.

She is a strong, motivated, and the most compassionate woman you’ll meet who needs our help to show her she is supported in this next journey she has to go through. She will never ask for it, so I will for her… I am asking you all to help raise $20,000 for Shelby’s upcoming medical expenses, prescriptions, bills, hospital parking, gas money to VGH, after-transplant care, post-transplant accommodations, and more as she prepares for this next medical hurdle. Financial worry should not be something she has to stress over during this time. She needs to focus on her health and getting a new liver.

I know Shelby will be more than grateful and so will I. Together we can all make this easier for her and ultimately help save her life.

(Photo Credits: David Fournier, Scott Gielen, Gerard Gielen, Kristen Andrews)