Bryar Willis is a 9-year-old boy from a little town in Pitkin, Louisiana. At the age of 2 he started having problems. He was airlifted to a Shreveport hospital with internal bleeding. Bryar stayed in the ICU for almost 2 weeks and in that time they could not give his father and I answers as to what was causing our baby boy to bleed. The day before Bryar was released we finally got the doctors to scope him. The results finally came: he had a cyst on the head of his pancreas, and they could not do surgery because the cyst was on two main arteries. Bryar was finally well enough to come home. But who knew we would see a surgeon every 3 months to monitor him until he thought he could do the surgery; it was too much of a life risk at the time. Bryar was in pain day in and day out, nonstop until the age of 7 and we would get told it was just the pressure of the cyst on his pancreas and not to overthink it. Finally, we pushed hard enough for him to be seen by an actual gastro doctor that knew everything about the pancreas. The day finally came when we saw this doctor; he ordered every test that he could possibly order. Come to find out Bryar’s cyst was pre-cancerous and he had extensive chronic pancreatitis that was making his life miserable; we couldn’t seem to get it under control. From pictures of the ultrasounds, his pancreas was getting worse and worse with time, and his ducts were starting to narrow off. Bryar was getting stents every 4-6 weeks via scope in his pancreas that each required a hospital stay. From the time Bryar was seen by his gastro at the age of 7 he had over 45 hospitalizations. Finally, our wonderful doctor sat us down and explained that he thought the best option for us for Bryar would be to go to Cincinnati, Ohio, to see if he was a candidate for the TPIAT surgery. In January 2023 Bryar finally was able to go to Cincinnati from Louisiana for evaluation. Bryar’s surgery was scheduled for April. Because his case was so unique they decided to defer from the traditional TPIAT and only do a whipple surgery (removal of half the pancreas) on him, because of his precancerous diagnosis we couldn’t chance it spreading, with the intent for him to have the TPIAT if he continued having pancreatitis. Bryar spent from April to the end of May in the Cincinnati hospital getting sent to the ICU two separate times for infection. Little did we know this was not the end of Bryar’s hospital journey. A feeding tube was placed a month after he couldn’t eat or drink; his poor body was exhausted. June finally came and we were able to return home to Louisiana. Bryar was still in extensive pain, a week after being home he was admitted back into our hometown hospital for pancreatitis. Bryar is finally scheduled for a TPIAT (Total pancreatectomy with islet cell transplant) with removal of his spleen and appendix on 10/17/2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bryar will be on a feeding pump, insulin pump and possibly other things. 

We could really use support as we travel from Louisiana to Cincinnati for long hospitalizations and doctors’ visits. So, we’ve partnered with COTA for assistance with transplant-related expenses.

The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy children and young adults. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.