Sharon LaValley started feeling ill on February 15th, 2021 and was diagnosed with COVID-19 three days later. Her life since that diagnosis has been nothing short of horrifying.
After having a slow but steady start to recovery at home, her health suddenly took a turn for the worse. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance on February 25th. Sharon was admitted into COVID unit at CVPH and stayed there for nearly three weeks. The medical professionals said that she seemed to be doing better and allowed her to go home. We know now that she was NOT doing any better, at all.
She was at home for 5 very miserable days. After suffering from extreme abdominal pain among other symptoms- Sharon had to once again be admitted to CVPH on March 17th.
The hospital performed some testing that had not been done during the first stay and discovered she had blood clots within her intestines. She was immediately brought to the operating room for exploratory emergency surgery. Eighty-five centimeters of her small intestine and part of her colon had to be removed.
The surgery had to be stopped before they were able to finish because her kidneys and liver were rapidly failing during the procedure. A procedure that was supposed to take a few hours lasted well into night. I received a call from my uncle at nearly one in the morning…the news was not great.
Sharon was put on life support and we were told at that point there was a good chance she would not survive the night- let alone the weekend. We were told that IF she survived, they would try and finish the surgery on Monday. She was left open for 3 days and when the surgeon went back in, he had no choice but give her a colostomy bag.
She has been intubated for so long at this point that the tubes are starting to destroy her vocal cords, and the doctors will be inserting a small (and hopefully temporary) tracheotomy with the intentions of being able to HOPEFULLY save her voice. This surgery is scheduled for Monday April 5th.
Additionally- Sharon has been battling a rare form of muscular dystrophy for a few years now. At this point, she has been confined to a bed for well over a month. The extensive amount of time in bed has been terrible for her muscle condition. Her muscles and some systems are already very weak- and she will need extensive rehabilitation and a lot of time to get back to some sort of normal.
So…this is where I need your help. To enter Sharon and Randy’s home you must climb a flight of stairs- which she will not be able to do once she gets home. Someone will either need to carry her up and down the stairs, or she will need a stair lift. Realistically the stair lift is the only option. Insurance has already told Randy that they will NOT cover the lift. Randy is out of work on reduced pay to help his wife and has nearly exhausted all their savings during this nightmare.
I am hoping to help them out by raising money to have a stair- lift installed in their home. The lift will cost $4500, and it is a special-order item which will take about two weeks to make. We would love to have this lift installed and ready for Sharon by the time she gets out of the hospital. The stair- lift will be similar to the one pictured below.
