Coach Flo Needs new lungs
Donation protected
The Flores family needs our help. Aaron is at the top of the list for a double lung transplant at UCHealth, University of Colorado Denver. The call could come in at any time and he will have four hours to get to Denver. Aaron will fly out via an emergency flight and Kristen and the girls will begin driving from their home in Coffeyville, Kansas, 650 miles away. They are going to need to stay as long as four months post procedure. While they do have some family and friends in the area to stay with, their estimated expenses will include a combination of apartment rental, helping to contribute to household expenses and medical costs.
Coach Flo's specialists recently provided the family the following stats:
- Without a transplant life expectancy is 2 years.
-Survival rate one year after the procedure can be in the 90% range. After five years, 50%.
-The patient cannot be left alone for one full year after the surgery.
When they were here in Colorado in March for the pre-surgery appointments, the advisors suggested that they begin fundraising immediately. The family was not sure how they felt about the idea and asking for help from others, but I have convinced them to let me start this page. With the undetermined medical costs, the uncertainty of returning to work and all of the variables that accompany this type of procedure......money is the last thing that they should have to worry about.
Aaron and Kristen are pretty amazing people and they deserve the help even if they do not want to ask for it. Anything that you can do to help is appreciated.
Below are some words from Kristen's Caring Bridge page. Search "Coach Flo Needs Airflow" at www.caringbridge.org.
"Aaron (Coach Flo) has been living and coaching football with acute interstitial pneumonia for approximately 12 years. It's pretty miraculous he's still alive. If you look up this diagnosis, you'll see why. It has progressively gotten worse to the point he is using oxygen at work and home. It's not 100% of the time but enough to justify pursuing a double lung transplant. Any walking or exertion makes him more short of breath each day/week/month. The cause of the disease has not been definitively determined but he was exposed to something that severely irritated his lungs, possibly a combination of mold (in a house we rented) and/or other environmental conditions.
He has taken a mountain of medications and been hospitalized several times for complications/side effects and pneumonia. There have been a lot of ups and downs through the 12 years but the best part is we somehow managed to have 2 beautiful, wild and amazing girls (Ryann and Haley) during a brief period when he could take a break from one of his medications that would almost certainly have caused severe birth defects."
Coach Flo's specialists recently provided the family the following stats:
- Without a transplant life expectancy is 2 years.
-Survival rate one year after the procedure can be in the 90% range. After five years, 50%.
-The patient cannot be left alone for one full year after the surgery.
When they were here in Colorado in March for the pre-surgery appointments, the advisors suggested that they begin fundraising immediately. The family was not sure how they felt about the idea and asking for help from others, but I have convinced them to let me start this page. With the undetermined medical costs, the uncertainty of returning to work and all of the variables that accompany this type of procedure......money is the last thing that they should have to worry about.
Aaron and Kristen are pretty amazing people and they deserve the help even if they do not want to ask for it. Anything that you can do to help is appreciated.
Below are some words from Kristen's Caring Bridge page. Search "Coach Flo Needs Airflow" at www.caringbridge.org.
"Aaron (Coach Flo) has been living and coaching football with acute interstitial pneumonia for approximately 12 years. It's pretty miraculous he's still alive. If you look up this diagnosis, you'll see why. It has progressively gotten worse to the point he is using oxygen at work and home. It's not 100% of the time but enough to justify pursuing a double lung transplant. Any walking or exertion makes him more short of breath each day/week/month. The cause of the disease has not been definitively determined but he was exposed to something that severely irritated his lungs, possibly a combination of mold (in a house we rented) and/or other environmental conditions.
He has taken a mountain of medications and been hospitalized several times for complications/side effects and pneumonia. There have been a lot of ups and downs through the 12 years but the best part is we somehow managed to have 2 beautiful, wild and amazing girls (Ryann and Haley) during a brief period when he could take a break from one of his medications that would almost certainly have caused severe birth defects."
Organizer and beneficiary
Melissa Schoning Tozier
Organizer
Coffeyville, KS
Aaron Flores
Beneficiary
