Tiffany Mayes and her daughter Chloe (18 months old now) were featured last spring in The Argonaut. Tiffany is married and her husband (Chloe’s dad) Anthony is an electrical engineering student at UI. Tiffany is a fourth generation Vandal and a senior studying elementary education.
This summer, Chloe became very ill and was taken to Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital were she stayed for almost a week. All was well after that and they returned to their home in Moscow. The fall semester began, both Anthony and Tiffany working hard at their jobs, going to classes and spending time with Chloe.
Dan Mattson | Courtesy Photo
Tiffany Mayes and her daughter, Chloe, smile for the camera at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Then on Sept. 16 their world was turned upside down. Chloe began throwing up blood. Gritman Hospital sent she and Anthony by life flight to Sacred Heart in Spokane. They were then life-flighted to Seattle Children’s Hospital. It was determined that Chloe had a blocked vein going to her liver which caused her spleen to grow veins to the esophagus and stomach which became varicose and started bleeding. She was sedated for almost a week while the doctors found the best way to help little Chloe. On Friday Sept. 23 they did surgery to add a shunt to divert blood to the liver and away from the spleen. All went well.
On Saturday Sept. 24 the worst happened. Chloe began bleeding internally at a life threatening rate. She went into cardiac arrest. Back into surgery they went. The doctors worked for 11 hours to save her life. It worked.
On Tuesday Sept. 27 they determined Chloe was still bleeding internally and the second shunt had plugged and was not working. Back into surgery Chloe went this time to remove her spleen. She is one tough little Vandal and made it through the surgery.
Anthony returned to Moscow on Sunday Oct. 2. After missing two weeks of classes he will need to sit out this semester. Tiffany remains in Seattle with Chloe where they have now been for three weeks. Obviously she will not be able to finish this semester either. Chloe still has a little internal bleeding but after a CT scan on Oct. 5 it was determined no further surgery should be needed. She is awake now after being sedated for the first 2 weeks of the illness. (Update Oct. 9: Chloe underwent another procedure to seal off the varices that were still leaking in her esophagus. Her grandfather Dan said it would hopefully be the last surgery before she and her mother could come home to Moscow.)
It is a financial struggle for young families to attend college. Tiffany and Anthony have been able cover their costs, but will now need to pay back some of their financial aid. Also they have not been able to work for several weeks. They will make it through this struggle with help from many friends and family.
If others think they cannot go to college for one reason or another then they should look at what Tiffany and Anthony have been going through, yet they will finish college. It will just take a little longer than they planned.
Dan Mattson
Tiffany’s father, UI class of 1984
KW
Many thoughts and prayers