A Heart for Hunsicker

Hi, my name is Tammie Hunsicker and I am 45 years old. I have been dealing with heart problems since after my second son was born 8 years ago. Recently, my symptoms had gotten worse. I received a second defibrillator and pacemaker. I went into the hospital for a small procedure and one look at me they admitted me to Penn Hospital. Before we knew it, I was in the ICU with an empella. With this machine, I wasn't able to go home. This broke all of our hearts. I was then accessed for a heart transplant. I was approved and listed at a stage 2. 3 days later, I received a call that there was a heart for me. I went into surgery that Saturday night at 8pm, and it was the best mother's day present for my whole family. ❤️

My surgery lasted 8 hours long. I woke up a day later with a brand new heart. With the new heart, I recently had to go onto kidney dialysis. I've been on continuous dialysis for 3 weeks getting fluid off. I was doing well, I had started PT and then, all of a sudden I had fluid around my new heart. I had to go into the OR and get a chest tube implanted to drain the fluid. It did the trick! Unfortunately, this set me back a week of healing. After 3 weeks, I am still in the Cardiac ICU. They are trying to take me off dialysis slowly, then I will be intermediate at night time.

We are all hoping and praying that my numbers look good, so I can go to the drop down floor for rehab. With all the fluid, I lost the ability to walk and the ability to take care of myself. I'm hoping to get stronger as the days go by so I can be back home with my family! After I am discharged, I will be in a rehab facility. I have been in the hospital now for 8 weeks.

This go fund me is to help with the medical costs that have accrued for my family during my stay here and once I'm home for prescriptions, etc. Any amount will be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.