Shelley and familys hope for lungs

My name is Sarah, I am the niece but more like daughter to the beautiful Shelley Morgan.

Shelley lived a normal healthy and active life, she loved spending time with her twin sons, Devon and Brandon, her husband Warren, her grandson Merik and most importantly, her favourite son, Gus.

In 2021 Shelley started experiencing a variety of symptoms, seemingly out of no where. These included persistent fevers, temporary paralysis, breathing difficulties and more. At this time, she was misdiagnosed many times with pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses. It was suggested at the time it may have been a side effect of the experimental shots for her psoriasis or prolonged exposure to mold. Their home was tested for mold, and the test came negative. So the journey continued....

From June 2021-January 2022, things continued to worsen and unfortunately Shelley had to go on short term disability, and then eventually long term disability in July 2022.

Up until this point, Shelley and Warren did lots of travelling, she was active and enjoyed spending time at their trailer during summers. They had just welcomed a new puppy Gus in October 2021.

In this time, Shelley had a very frustrating experience with multiple incorrect diagnosis and treatments, and being left in limbo for many months at a time. Many painful tests were conducted, included blood gas testing, MRI, bone scans, colonoscopy, endoscopy, EKG, ect.

It was a very scary time for Shelley and her family, and eventually in September 2022 they got an answer. Shelley was diagnosed with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) and pulmonary hypertension. It was explained this was an inflammatory disease of the lungs, and the life expectancy would be 3 years. The only treatment was a lung transplant. After this, Shelley was sent home on at home oxygen, which drastically changed her quality of life.

Finally in February 2023, her case was presented to the transplant team in Edmonton, where she was left with more questions as they didn't give her a clear answer, and requested more testing. Since then, its been constant hoop jumping, testing, appointments and hospital stays. In July 2023 we were ecstatic when her case was approved and she was put on the list for a transplant.

Unfortunately our excitement was brought to an abrupt halt when Shelley was admitted to the hospital October 2023. After a brave battle for 3 weeks on maximum oxygen supports, Shelley was admitted to the ICU at HSC on a ventilator. The ventilator unfortunately was not enough support for her, and she was transferred to St Boniface hospital to receive surgery and treatment on an external lung system, ECMO. To the doctors surprise, she survived and despite being clinically dead for a period of time, sustained no brain injuries and woke up and strong and fighting. They advised she would be transferred to Edmonton, to wait for lungs to arrive. Her husband and brother went to Edmonton to meet her, but sadly plans changed and Edmonton could no longer offer her a bed, so they came back to Winnipeg.

We are now approaching the 5 week mark, and expenses are adding up. Parking costs us 20$ a day, food for our family is costly and difficult as we spend days and nights at the hospital by her side. We have a very small family, so support is small and its been very difficult on everyone.

The hope is to still send Shelley to Edmonton, and the doctors are still pushing for this to happen in the near future. We have been advised due to her lengthly hospital stay before transplant, the expected 3 week stay in Edmonton for recovery is now estimated to be 2-3 months long. There are no subsides available, and all costs associated with the trip will be out of pocket. This includes flights, hotels (even with hospital rates are 100$+ a day), food, all while the bills pile up at home while they are both off work. These expenses were not expected, and causing great stress on the family.

Any and all funds raised will go toward helping Shelley, Warren and their family during this difficult time.

Thank you to all the amazing staff at both HSC and St Boniface, the doctors and nurses have been simply amazing and the care has been so greatly appreciated.

Please consider donating if you can.

Sarah, Warren, Brandon, Devon and family.