A change of Heart for a new Beginning

My son's challenge, and mine as well, came the day he was born.  Joe has congenital left ventricular cardiomyopathy with mitral valve regurgitation and was very sick at birth.  He was an inpatient for nine weeks after birth before I could bring him home.  Throughout his life, he would be short of breath and, because he was used to it, he thought that it was normal, sometimes forgetting to take into account his condition.  I was lucky to have my child with me, as The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia saved his life after birth.

For many years, and after going through much worry, praying, crying and dealing with many medications since birth, Joe stabilized to the point where his cardiology visits were dropped down to yearly.  He was stable until he turned 19 years old.  At that time, he filled up with fluid, which initially was thought to be the flu and, while he was in the hospital, with that large amount of fluid, he flatlined.  He came back on his own, waking up at Children's Hospital with a 5% ejection fraction.  Several months later, as a bridge to transplant, Joe had open heart surgery to implant an LVAD.  It was a challenge going through this for having to wear external parts of a device, including batteries, to keep the device functioning.  Joe had the LVAD taken out a year and one-half later, with his ejection fraction improving to the point where he went many years in a stable state.  Last year, his heart became much weaker again and he was instructed by his doctors to get all of the testing and procedures done to be eligible to be put on the transplant list. 

Despite having a heart problem, Joe was able to do many things in his life.  He was always good with technology and computers, and has done many jobs with that.  He obtained schooling and training to become a Certified State Agent Security Officer, and has excelled in that, even though his passion still is to become a police officer.  Unfortunately, his worsening condition has made it difficult for him to keep a steady job in general, even though he did his best to maintain his positions. 

We are reaching out to use the money for medical expenses for health insurance, medical bills that come from a new heart and drugs, plus any living expenses as a result of him being out of work for a while after the transplant, and in and out of work for the past several months because of various hospital admissions.

I did not think that I would be in a position like this that I would have to ask for help, but I have had a change of heart because my son needs a change of heart (literally).  Please help us through this trying experience.  It is appreciated more than words can express.