Linda's Healthy Heart Fund
Donation protected
Before the age of one, our friend Linda was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease, a rare pediatric condition that involves the inflammation of the blood vessels including the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart. Linda also suffered from peripheral gangrene, the most rare and potentially fatal complication of this disease. Due to the compromised blood flow, the limbs suffer lack of oxygen and nutrients and the tissues die, this lead to the necessary amputation of both of Linda’s legs and her left hand. Although her troubled start brought about many challenges, she still manages to live a positive and proactive life, making the best out of every situation.
In 2010, Linda approached an Emory University-based program funded by the Department of Defense who offered hand amputees the opportunity of a transplant. After extensive testing to qualify, she was put on the waitlist for a suitable match. When a donor hand became available in March of 2011 she immediately headed to Atlanta to undergo an intricate 19-hour procedure to surgically attach her new hand. She became the first successful hand transplant patient in the southeast. Since then, she’s undergone rigorous physical therapy to allow the transplant to function as her very own hand. This marked a brand new chapter as Linda learned to live life with two hands.
However, at the end of October 2014, she began to experience extreme chest pains. Because of her strong-willed nature, she went about life as normal as she roughed through the severe discomfort. Around the same time, she noticed possible signs of rejection in her hand. So she set out to see her hand surgeon, who had recently transferred to Duke University. Unexpectedly, after several tests, she was admitted for possible heart failure. An MRI and a heart catheterization later revealed that one of Linda's coronary arteries was 100% blocked. At the young age of 25, Linda suffered a life-threatening heart attack as a consequence of her childhood disease. She is now in desperate need of Coronary Bypass surgery.
March 2015 will mark Linda’s four-year transplant anniversary. She has faced several rejection scares, which require traveling for testing and biopsies, not to mention the expensive anti-rejection medication, monthly infusions, visits and necessary treatments, which are her financial responsibility. Due to being out of state, it is unlikely that her Florida Medicaid will cover the expenses. This expense, now along with her abrupt heart complication, has left Linda in an overwhelming financial crisis.
As her financial burden grows heavier, we ask that you please donate whatever you can to help Linda get the medical attention she needs and help save her heart. We hope to repair her heart as her heart fills ours with love.
To know Linda is to love her. She is outgoing, funny, caring, witty, and intelligent. Most of all she finds a way to stay positive in light of any situation. Every person she encounters is left with a smile on their face and she will most definitely leave an impression on your heart.
Please donate if you can, and at the very least share this with some of your friends. Thank you so much for your support.
In 2010, Linda approached an Emory University-based program funded by the Department of Defense who offered hand amputees the opportunity of a transplant. After extensive testing to qualify, she was put on the waitlist for a suitable match. When a donor hand became available in March of 2011 she immediately headed to Atlanta to undergo an intricate 19-hour procedure to surgically attach her new hand. She became the first successful hand transplant patient in the southeast. Since then, she’s undergone rigorous physical therapy to allow the transplant to function as her very own hand. This marked a brand new chapter as Linda learned to live life with two hands.
However, at the end of October 2014, she began to experience extreme chest pains. Because of her strong-willed nature, she went about life as normal as she roughed through the severe discomfort. Around the same time, she noticed possible signs of rejection in her hand. So she set out to see her hand surgeon, who had recently transferred to Duke University. Unexpectedly, after several tests, she was admitted for possible heart failure. An MRI and a heart catheterization later revealed that one of Linda's coronary arteries was 100% blocked. At the young age of 25, Linda suffered a life-threatening heart attack as a consequence of her childhood disease. She is now in desperate need of Coronary Bypass surgery.
March 2015 will mark Linda’s four-year transplant anniversary. She has faced several rejection scares, which require traveling for testing and biopsies, not to mention the expensive anti-rejection medication, monthly infusions, visits and necessary treatments, which are her financial responsibility. Due to being out of state, it is unlikely that her Florida Medicaid will cover the expenses. This expense, now along with her abrupt heart complication, has left Linda in an overwhelming financial crisis.
As her financial burden grows heavier, we ask that you please donate whatever you can to help Linda get the medical attention she needs and help save her heart. We hope to repair her heart as her heart fills ours with love.
To know Linda is to love her. She is outgoing, funny, caring, witty, and intelligent. Most of all she finds a way to stay positive in light of any situation. Every person she encounters is left with a smile on their face and she will most definitely leave an impression on your heart.
Please donate if you can, and at the very least share this with some of your friends. Thank you so much for your support.
Organizer
Melissa Pagetti
Organizer
Orlando, FL
