SHELBY — For Maria Uyoa’s entire 20 years, her father has been sick.
Born with Hepatitis B, Victor Uyoa has no idea where the virus came from. He never knew his father and his mother didn’t play much of a role in his life.
Instead, he was raised by his grandparents in Michoacan, one of the states of Mexico, west of Mexico City. Victor lived there until the 1980s when he moved to the United States and settled in Texas, where he started raising a family and had his own business.
Victor went back to Mexico for a while after going through a divorce and met and married Veronica Salinas. He brought Veronica back with him to the United States and, in 2001, they moved to Ohio.
Maria was the first of their four children born in Ohio.
“At that time, he was having more health problems and OSU took him on as a patient,” Maria said as being one of the advantages of moving to Ohio.
In 2006, Victor became too ill to work and had to go on Disability. He was in and out of the emergency room at least three to four times each year. Most times he stayed in the hospital at least a week. He suffered from cirrhosis of the liver from the hepatitis and hernias that built up with fluid.
“He looked pregnant sometimes, the fluid filled him up so bad,” Maria said.
Along with these other problems, Maria said he had a terrible cough that completely incapacitated him at times.
In 2015, the family moved to Shelby from Columbus.
“It was a much more affordable place for us to live,” Maria said.
Victor was on and off the OSU liver transplant list over a 16-year period, but eventually was taken off due to his poor health. This was devastating news for the family.
Older daughter Crystal refused to give up and started calling around and in six months he was accepted by the Cleveland Clinic, and they had an anonymous donor match for him within six months.
Victor went into the hospital on July 25. The transplant was a success, but there were some other complications. They found aneurysms in his pancreas and spleen.
He was moved to the Cleveland Clinic’s Transplant House after surgery, but then caught a blood infection and went back into the ICU for a few days. As of this article, he is back in the hospital and out of ICU, but not yet back at the Transplant House.
While Maria’s mother stays in Cleveland with Victor, who will most likely be there several more weeks, Maria remains home with her three younger siblings, Victor (16), Marcus (12), and Mia (10).
The 20-year-old has been raising them for most of their lives, since their mother spends much of her time caring for their father who has spent little time out of his bed since they moved to Shelby.
Maria was supposed to start school this year at Ohio State, and had an apartment paid for and ready to move into, when her father was given the good news of the available donor.
“No one knew how long he would be in the hospital or what this would involve,” Maria said. “But as time went on, I realized I wouldn’t be able to go. At least not now.”
Maria then had to try to find someone to take over her lease.
“I was paying $500 each month in rent and utilities, and I didn’t even live there.”
In the meantime, she’s taking some classes online, until she can eventually go to school.
She hopes to major in Geology and become an Environmental Scientist.
Maria works three jobs, which includes having a small business in The Little Shops of Shelby at 40 E. Main St., Shelby. Maria’s business is called Magikal Crafts N’ Creations. She’s usually there on Saturdays and Sundays, and occasionally during the week. On Saturdays, her youngest two siblings often join her while she works.
Not only does Maria take care of her brothers and sister, work three jobs, and attend school online, but she has her own health issues. Maria is a diabetic and must control it with an insulin pump. She must closely monitor her insulin levels so that she doesn’t get too tired or weak.
Yet it is rare to see her without a smile on her face. Even with all the hardships her family faces, she stays positive and serves as a strong role model to her younger siblings.
The Uyoa family has started a GoFundMe page, not only because of the astronomical medical bills, but to help with some of the basic expenses not being covered. The family is having to pay $50 per day for their mother’s stay at the Transplant House.
Veronica recently downsized into a studio apartment at the Transplant House, because the one-bedroom apartment was $60 per day. This is entirely out-of-pocket. When Victor gets out of the hospital again, he will stay with her in the Transplant House for at least 2-3 more weeks until he can go home.
“After the surgery my dad went to stay at the Transplant House, and they had to take the feeding tube out because the insurance wouldn’t cover it out of the hospital. To have the feeding tube in is $500 per month,” Maria said.
The problem was, he was having trouble eating food. He couldn’t keep anything down. Maria is worried that he will need the feeding tube when he goes back to the Transplant House again, and they will just have to find a way to pay for it.
“He may even need it at home for a while, and we’ll just have to figure it out.”
Every week Maria orders food through Instacart for her mother in Cleveland and has it delivered to the Transplant House. She’s also providing all the groceries for herself and her siblings.
“I’m spending around $350 each week to feed everyone.”
The difficulties don’t stop with medical bills, housing, and food. The house the family bought in 2015 was a “fixer upper” to get a good price on it. They hoped to get a lot done on the house, but Victor’s deteriorating health meant putting things off and getting only a few things done over the years.
“At least we got the drywall up last year,” Maria said.
They are still paying off the Home Depot credit card on all the materials they bought to fix the house, but the materials are sitting because there’s no one to do the work.
Right now, one of the older brothers is visiting to help get the upstairs bathroom done so that when Victor gets home, he won’t have to go down the stairs to use the bathroom.
“The house needs a lot of work,” Maria said.
She acknowledged the younger kids don’t invite friends over because the house isn’t presentable.
“We don’t have a furnace which makes winter really hard,” Maria admitted. “We use a lot of little plug-in heaters.”
These heaters make the electric bill extremely high each winter, but it’s the only way they can stay somewhat warm.
With everything this family has been through, you would never know it to meet and talk to them. Marcus and Mia are happy, bright, enthusiastic children who adore their sister and are well-adjusted, considering what they’ve been through.
Marcus missed nearly the first two weeks of school because he had to stay at the Cleveland Clinic to translate for his mother who doesn’t speak much English.
That’s a lot to put on a 12-year-old. But like Maria, he takes it in stride.
“We just want our dad to come home.”
If you would like to donate to the Uyoa family toward Victor’s medical expenses, their GoFundMe page is: https://gofund.me/32665392
If you would like to donate something other than money or even labor to help them finish their house, contact Demrie Alonzo through email at: DemrieA@gmail.com.
