For more than five years Mary Kate Pritchett has suffered with severe, acute abdominal pain.  As a gifted and competitive softball player, Mary Kate is familiar with enduring and muscling through pain. This pain, however, has become severe, persistent and immobilizing.  Mary was admitted to the hospital the first time in 2013.  There, after a series of tests, they removed her gall bladder.  She was in the hospital for 5 days.  After the surgery, she was hopeful the pain was gone.

After a short time, however, the pain returned, and it was worse.  Over the next 4 years, Mary has endured daily pain, 36 more days in the hospital, countless tests, a feeding tube, four surgical procedures, and several evaluations on her pancreas in an attempt to find relief and normalcy. 

During the last year, final tests have revealed her pancreas is failing.  This means she is unable to digest fats and eating even limited quantities leads to chronic, acute pain.  After numerous consultations, doctors have recommended that Mary undergo a life-changing 12-hour surgery to hopefully end her long-term health battle with pancreatitis.  She will have a TPIAT (Total Pancreatectomy Islet Auto Transplantation) surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, removing her pancreas, spleen, appendix, and part of her intestines.

The procedure includes extracting Mary’s islet cells, which produce insulin, from her pancreas and transplanting them into her liver in hopes they will produce insulin there. Mary will be in the hospital in Ohio for a minimum of 6-8 weeks.  While the recovery period is long, Mary is very optimistic this procedure will help end her chronic pancreatitis and will allow her to enjoy softball, her many other sports and hobbies, and to thrive without chronic pain. 

As you can imagine, the transplant procedure, recurring doctor visits, and lifelong medication will result in high, ongoing medical costs.  We sincerely appreciate your kind donations to COTA in honor of Mary Kate which assist with these costs, your prayers for Mary’s speedy recovery and a successful procedure, and your continued support for her recovery and the great plans God has in store for her.