By Marc Raimondi
The last few months have been a series of starts and stops -- and worse -- for Savannah Rennie. There does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel, though.
Rennie, a star freshman indoor player at the University of California, is suffering from a rare liver disease called congenital hepatic fibrosis with portal hypertension. It is typically common only in infants and the elderly. Rennie was apparently born with a malfunctioning liver, but it didn't manifest itself until now.
The disease itself is not necessarily life-threatening -- but the effects are. Rennie has been in the hospital on and off with cholangitis, an infection of the liver's bile duct, and sepsis. The latter is the scariest part. The Center for Disease Control classifies sepsis as "the body's overwhelming and life-threatening response to an infection which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death."
The good news for Rennie, 19, is that she is now fourth in line for a liver transplant, as she tweeted this week. Of course, she is not out of the woods yet. Rennie's mother Renee has set up a GoFundMe for a host of expenses the family is incurring during this time (https://www.gofundme.com/savstrongliver).
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/srennie1310/status/714623291240157190" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
This week, Renee wrote on the GoFundMe page that Savannah was actually up for a liver transplant just days ago, but it was considered a high-risk liver and Savannah did not want to take the risk. So, now she's back in the queue at No. 4.
"I am very proud of my daughter and her process of making her decision," Renee wrote. "It was equally as hard to watch her go through this - to see her anguish and to see her emotions while dealing with this very big decision. It will be a decision she will live with for the rest of her life and we are all so proud of her."
Rennie fell ill in June 2015 and she was not diagnosed with congenital hepatic fibrosis until last September. The disease is basically a malformation of the liver, bile ducts and blood vessels of the hepatic portal system, according to the National Library of Medicine. Portal hypertension impairs the flow of blood from the gastrointestinal tract.
Congenital hepatic fibrosis can cause a host of different issues, gastrointestinal and otherwise. It also affects the kidneys. Complications from the affliction have caused Rennie multiple trips to the hospital.
"The disease is kind of like Russian roulette every day," Rennie told CSN Bay Area in February. "I don't know how my body is gonna go. I'm just living off antibiotics at the moment, hoping every day I'm OK." Despite her illness and not being able to play, Rennie was at Cal volleyball practice almost every day, coach Rich Feller said.
"She became my whiteboard scribe," Feller said. "She wrote up all the practices on the whiteboard, she kept score for the team, she rolled balls out. She did whatever she needed to do as an active part of the team. Even if she wasn't feeling good, she would still sit and watch practice."
Rennie was a blue-chip recruit for Cal. The 6-foot-2 middle blocker/right side hitter out of Torrey Pines HS was ranked No. 20 in the 2015 class nationally by PrepVolleyball.com.
One of the worst things about Rennie's condition -- maybe the worst thing -- has been her inability to play the sport she loves, she said.
"Your spleen and liver is enlarged," Rennie said. "That means no contact sports and volleyball is partial contact. I said, 'So what does that mean?' And they said, No volleyball.' I freaked out, because volleyball has been my rock for my whole life. I did not take it very well."
Rennie and her mother have been living in Indianapolis for the last two months, away from their native San Diego, because it is easier to get a transplant in Indiana rather than the West Coast. Renee has left her job for the time being to care for her daughter, which means she is not getting a salary. That only adds to the mammoth amount of expenses.
So far, the GoFundMe has raised more than $90,000 of the $100,000 goal.
In February, Rennie announced on Twitter that she'd been approved for a transplant. That could now come soon. Afterward, it'll be a three-month recovery period and then she should be cleared to get back to the sport she holds so dear.
"With my mentality, you do everything with a passion," Rennie said. "You do what you love with a passion. You don't go halfway and quit or anything like that. I know I don’t have volleyball completely, but it's still my life."
Click here to donate to Savannah Rennie's GoFundMe page.
The last few months have been a series of starts and stops -- and worse -- for Savannah Rennie. There does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel, though.
Rennie, a star freshman indoor player at the University of California, is suffering from a rare liver disease called congenital hepatic fibrosis with portal hypertension. It is typically common only in infants and the elderly. Rennie was apparently born with a malfunctioning liver, but it didn't manifest itself until now.
The disease itself is not necessarily life-threatening -- but the effects are. Rennie has been in the hospital on and off with cholangitis, an infection of the liver's bile duct, and sepsis. The latter is the scariest part. The Center for Disease Control classifies sepsis as "the body's overwhelming and life-threatening response to an infection which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death."
The good news for Rennie, 19, is that she is now fourth in line for a liver transplant, as she tweeted this week. Of course, she is not out of the woods yet. Rennie's mother Renee has set up a GoFundMe for a host of expenses the family is incurring during this time (https://www.gofundme.com/savstrongliver).
[tweet url="https://twitter.com/srennie1310/status/714623291240157190" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]
This week, Renee wrote on the GoFundMe page that Savannah was actually up for a liver transplant just days ago, but it was considered a high-risk liver and Savannah did not want to take the risk. So, now she's back in the queue at No. 4.
"I am very proud of my daughter and her process of making her decision," Renee wrote. "It was equally as hard to watch her go through this - to see her anguish and to see her emotions while dealing with this very big decision. It will be a decision she will live with for the rest of her life and we are all so proud of her."
Rennie fell ill in June 2015 and she was not diagnosed with congenital hepatic fibrosis until last September. The disease is basically a malformation of the liver, bile ducts and blood vessels of the hepatic portal system, according to the National Library of Medicine. Portal hypertension impairs the flow of blood from the gastrointestinal tract.
Congenital hepatic fibrosis can cause a host of different issues, gastrointestinal and otherwise. It also affects the kidneys. Complications from the affliction have caused Rennie multiple trips to the hospital.
"The disease is kind of like Russian roulette every day," Rennie told CSN Bay Area in February. "I don't know how my body is gonna go. I'm just living off antibiotics at the moment, hoping every day I'm OK." Despite her illness and not being able to play, Rennie was at Cal volleyball practice almost every day, coach Rich Feller said.
"She became my whiteboard scribe," Feller said. "She wrote up all the practices on the whiteboard, she kept score for the team, she rolled balls out. She did whatever she needed to do as an active part of the team. Even if she wasn't feeling good, she would still sit and watch practice."
Rennie was a blue-chip recruit for Cal. The 6-foot-2 middle blocker/right side hitter out of Torrey Pines HS was ranked No. 20 in the 2015 class nationally by PrepVolleyball.com.One of the worst things about Rennie's condition -- maybe the worst thing -- has been her inability to play the sport she loves, she said.
"Your spleen and liver is enlarged," Rennie said. "That means no contact sports and volleyball is partial contact. I said, 'So what does that mean?' And they said, No volleyball.' I freaked out, because volleyball has been my rock for my whole life. I did not take it very well."
Rennie and her mother have been living in Indianapolis for the last two months, away from their native San Diego, because it is easier to get a transplant in Indiana rather than the West Coast. Renee has left her job for the time being to care for her daughter, which means she is not getting a salary. That only adds to the mammoth amount of expenses.
So far, the GoFundMe has raised more than $90,000 of the $100,000 goal.
In February, Rennie announced on Twitter that she'd been approved for a transplant. That could now come soon. Afterward, it'll be a three-month recovery period and then she should be cleared to get back to the sport she holds so dear.
"With my mentality, you do everything with a passion," Rennie said. "You do what you love with a passion. You don't go halfway and quit or anything like that. I know I don’t have volleyball completely, but it's still my life."
Click here to donate to Savannah Rennie's GoFundMe page.