Assist Erika Pinktipps along the Road to Recovery!
Every now and then, life creates a rare unicorn of a woman. Someone who has immense beauty inside and out, gives her full heart out to those in need and embraces each day with special magic. Erika has dedicated her life to serving artists and creators as they fulfill their dreams ~ and to raising her wonderful young daughter, Matilda aka ‘Pixie.’
Anyone who knows Erika Pinktipps can attest to her grace, generosity and gorgeous spirit. The shared stories, collective memories and human-connection history we have with Erika are countless.
While always thinking of others, she’s remained silent and dignified about her own health challenges. But now, a small group of dear friends are harmonizing a Call to Arms for Erika to YOU ~ her people and her tribe. We have created this page in order to get her the immediate care and attention she needs.
Think back to the big hugs, meaningful looks with those dreamy blue eyes, sweet texts of love, phone calls of sincere connection, the insights she’s provided others and love she tirelessly gives ….and please DONATE NOW what you can and let’s get Erika back to her well-deserved happiness and health.
What in the world is going on, you might ask?
Over the past two months Erika has struggled with labored breathing, massive fatigue, heart palpitations and couldn’t walk more than 10 feet without exhaustion. After a handful of overnight emergency room visits, the doctors began eliminating causes through various testing. They performed a cardiac catheterization and discovered that she had a severe, life-threatening condition that required immediate open-heart surgery and valve repair on June 22nd. The consequence of her prior radiation treatments severely damaged her heart and coronary vessels. Although her prognosis is good, her recovery process is expected to be lengthy.
What will this money be used for?
Erika has primarily worked in the music industry and like many others, her income was devastated by the pandemic. Erika also joins the many Texans who saw the loss of their unemployment/pandemic relief benefits on July 1. The funds raised by this campaign will be used to pay Erika’s enormous medical bills, rehabilitation costs and day to day living expenses during her recovery. In addition, monies raised will help provide for the care of her beloved daughter, Matilda. Erika currently has catastrophic insurance through the affordable care act but her out of network costs, co-pays and deductible are expected to be quite substantial.
Post Op/Recover Update:
Unfortunately, Erika's recovery has been very challenging. After 2 ½ weeks post-op, she is still on the Cardiac step down unit of St. David's Austin. Erika continues to face many challenges in the hospital. She required an additional cardiac catheterization to rule out complications and is being treated for a blood clot in her lungs. She continues to have a chest tube which will hopefully be removed this week if all goes well. It's likely Erika will transfer to a rehabilitation facility after her release from St. Davids for continued medical support and assistance as she recovers. Even after all these difficulties, Erika remains in good spirits and is more concerned with burdening the medical staff who love and adore her. She’s quite the celebrity amongst the medical staff but needs our help.