Leigha Barteski

Leigha Barteski is 21, she is currently in the nursing program at UGA ( University of Georgia, Athens).  Leigha has type 1 diabetes and was diagnosed with diabetes in the middle of 8th grade.  Leigha is the most out going and positive person ever.  She is the "middle" child in a family of 3 children.  Jenifer, 25, is the oldest and Adam, 17, being the youngest.
A few weeks ago, Leigha called me, her mother, and said she was in a lot of back/side pain.  I said, GO TO THE DOCTOR.  So she did, she saw a dr at the UGA health center.  He did blood work, xrays, then ordered an ultra sound.  When these came back "inconclusive", he referred her to a gastrointerologist.  I know I spelled that wrong but whatever you get the idea!  So he ordered an MRI, and when that came back "inconclusive", he wanted a biopsy!  That was done I think Oct. 1, I can't remember anymore!  Anyway, I went to Athens to see her and take her home after the procedure.  They thought it'd be a week before the results came.  So... she called me Tues. Oct 5, 2010 to let me know that the "g.i." dr had called her to let her know he had the results and she needed to make an appt. to see him and to bring her parents.  Of course I knew this could not be good.   The appointment was for Fri. Oct. 8th at 4 pm in his Athens, GA office.  It took about 4 min for him to deliver the bad news.  Leigha has cholangiocarcinoma, liver cancer, that is mostly only found in people  65 yrs old or older.  There is no known reason why she has it.  Diabetes is NOT the cause at least that's what we believe at this time.  We are going to see an oncologist at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta tomorrow, October 13.  Our appt is for 10:45.  
Because the company her dad, Ron had worked for for 10 years filed for bankruptcy back in August, we lost all our health insurance!  And because Leigha is diabetic, that is called a pre-existing condition, so NO ONE WILL INSURE HER!  We hope and pray that everyone out there will read this story and step up to the plate and help out.  Its all tax deductible.  Thank you all for your support!




October 13, 2010

We had our first appointment at Emory in Atlanta today.  We spent the whole day there, mostly waiting.  When we finally saw the dr, he said it was not possible to do a transplant because of the type of cancer that it is.  He said that because she is too young to have this type of cancer that he feels it has started somewhere else.  He ordered another MRI, which they were able to do at 230 this afternoon, luckily, she had not eaten today!  Then he wanted her to go back to her dr in Athens to do a colononoscopy.  They were able to get her an appointment at 630 am tomorrow, and on the bright side that dr told her he wouldn't charge her!  The dr today also said that a group of 10 drs would meet on Fri and have a conference to see how to proceed.  Soooo....we are back to the waiting game.  Nothing else has been scheduled at this time!