Ashlee’s Heart Journey

My name is Jessica Wyler. My baby sister is currently in Vanderbilt fighting for her life.

Ashlee is such a beautiful young soul. She has two amazing little boys, Cameron and Malcolm. Ashlee was admitted into Vanderbilt on August 21st. She originally went due to having pain and she couldn’t breathe. She was born with a Bicuspid Aorta. We’ve known this since birth and was told back then that she was not to over do with sports etc and to always be monitored, this is basically hereditary, and many people live a normal life with maybe lower than normal energy levels etc. She will be 29 in November. Once in the hospital they determined it was the heart and admitted her into ICU and stated that she would either need repair or replacement of the aorta. They decided to do full replacement. While in the hospital, she developed Pulmonary Edema. They decided that she would need to be on antibiotics for 5 weeks before she could undergo the surgery. After about a week of antibiotics, they realized that her body was rejecting them. Her heart began vegetating. They ended up taking her into emergency open heart surgery. That was a day our family will never forget. They let us know that her chances of making it out of this surgery were 50/50, but we remained hopeful & kept Faith & relied on prayer. After 9 long/ agonizing hours she made it out of surgery. They replaced her Aorta and her root To her aorta from a donor. She then developed Endocarditis, along with the pulmonary Edema. They brought her off her anesthesia slowly to make sure she didn’t have a stroke during surgery and praise God her neuros were good. Her lungs were then full of blood so they had to put her on Life Support once the surgery was done to help her breathe. The ECMO machine worked as her lungs to allow them to rest & heal. She has also been put on a slow Dialysis due to her Potassium levels be abnormally high. This will help drain her kidneys.

Right how Ashlee is currently in Vanderbilt on life support and I am making this GoFundMe for my mother who has missed 3 weeks of work to be by her side. Not only is she making sure that Ashlee isn’t alone, but she is raising her two little boys. She is struggling to keep up with bills and everyday necessities. She wants to/will remain by Ashlee’s side as she has yet to fully wake up from this surgery. She isn’t getting paid for these days of work that she is missing. And as hard as it is to ask for it, we truly need your help.

One thing about our family is we have faith. We know our God will provide. If you can’t donate that’s okay. We ask first and foremost for prayer!!! This is the hardest thing our family has ever been through. I’m asking for donations so that my mother can be with my sister without feeling the constant stress of the financial burden. Life still goes on, but a mother doesn’t leave her daughter’s side during a crisis like this. Anything you can provide to keep the bills paid and the kids comfortable would be beyond appreciated.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has continued to pray! They are working. She is making progress, but is still very critical and has a long way to go.