Angelo's Biography

Angelo is an intelligent and sweet boy of 5 years old and son to Matthew and Stephanie. He has battled many obstacles in his short, young life to get to this point of needing a liver transplant.

He started out as a healthy beautiful boy and we were ready to start our lives together as a family. Even at 6 months old his pediatrician defined him as "perfect". It was only a couple of months later that Angelo started showing symptoms of being very sick. We started noticing symptoms of easy bruising, weakness, vomiting, jaundice, and digestive problems plus he was not growing as he should. Then after a doctor visit and some blood work, we received the phone call dreaded by any parent, "pack up your things and head straight to the hospital and we don’t know how long you will have to be there." Devastated, we quickly made it to the hospital. After a week of being in inpatient, the doctors could not figure out what Angelo’s diagnosis was. The only thing they knew was that it was not cancer. Making sure Angelo was stable enough; the doctors released Angelo to go home with a working diagnosis of Hereditary Fructose Intolerance (HFI), a rare genetic disorder. After changing his diet and being back in the hospital a month later for another 2 weeks with even more issues, that included his kidneys, severe vitamin deficiencies and intractable pruritis (itching), both of us, and his doctors, knew that he did not have the correct diagnosis. Another month went by, Angelo was 12 months old, and was once again in the hospital, weighing less than his birth weight and very close to death. The doctors were at a loss at how to help him. We decided to take Angelo home come what may and to take more aggressive action to find Angelo’s true diagnosis. Angelo underwent a liver biopsy and many, many blood tests that were sent all over the world. These tests led to another diagnosis of Polygammarase 1 (POLG1) mitochondrial disease.

Despite the new diagnosis, we traveled to see many different doctors of both conventional and holistic medicine all over the country to try and help our son. Angelo had been placed on over 17 different meds and supplements, most of which were not covered by insurance. The more time passed, doctors realized that this diagnosis was not the right fit and started looking again at Angelo’s liver problems. With the research of his doctors and both of us, plus a lot more blood work, Angelo was finally diagnosed with Progressive Familial Intrahepatic Cholestasis (PFIC) type 2. This is a rare genetic disorder of the liver in which the liver cannot effectively pump bile out of the liver cells leading to liver damage and ultimately, liver failure. Upon receiving this new diagnosis, Angelo underwent another series of tests including another liver biopsy only to reveal the severe state that his liver is currently in. Angelo has severe cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver and is tormented daily by intractable and mutilating pruritus (itching). The only course of action for Angelo, in order for him to live, is to receive a liver transplant.

Today, due to mounting medical costs, Angelo needs your help. Your prayers and donations are greatly appreciated. Thank you.Click to return to Angelo's Fund

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