Barb’s Fight of her Life

As some of you may or may not know, my Mom (Barb Stevenson) has been fighting the fight of her life for almost the last year. In February of 2022 she got sick with pneumonia and we almost lost her if it wasn’t for Ken calling 911. She was rushed to emergency and ended up in the ICU for a couple of weeks. While she was in the hospital we found out that she was diagnosed with a progressive lung disease called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

For anyone who knows my Mother knows that she never wants to burden anyone with her problems. She will make sure everyone else around her is fine, taken care of and well before she let anyone help her. She’s by far the strongest and toughest person that I know.

When she was first diagnosed in 2021 she had no issues physically and was told that it was nothing to worry about at that point. She was active and worked out weekly, drove 2 hours a day, 5 days a week to watch Ariya (her granddaughter and my daughter) and was always anywhere someone needed her to be. She’s the planner, the packer extraordinaire, and the life of the party anywhere she goes.

Unfortunately this disease is a very progressive lung disease with no cure and a very short life expectancy. Any cold, flu or virus is extremely detrimental to someone like her, which leads us to her hospital admission. Unfortunately since that point the disease has finally shown itself. She is now confined to the house on 2 oxygen machines 24/7 to keep her oxygen levels stable and to keep her alive. She requires assistance with a lot of things around the house, gets winded very easily and struggles to do most day-to-day activities. Thankfully, Ken and Joe have been there with her helping her at home with as much as they can, being her personal assistants and chauffeur. As much as we would all love to be there to help her, she is very high risk, and with constant colds, flus and viruses going around we have had to limit seeing her to keep her safe.

Her disease has definitely progressed over this past year unfortunately, which has lead to limited abilities to have phone conversations or lengthy talks… and for anyone who knows my mom knows that’s the hardest part of all of this...The woman loves to talk lol!

Thankfully after getting her in the best hands of a new respirologist (all while during a 2 year respiratory pandemic and one of the hardest specialist to require) he expedited this process and after 8 long months of testing, medications and many hospital visits to Toronto General Hospital, we’re happy to say that as of today, December 20th, 2022 she has officially signed the papers to be put on the lung transplant list!!!! And now we wait! Wait times can be anywhere from now to 3-6 month, based on so many variable factors.

A lung transplant is a life long commitment and one of the most difficult surgeries to undergo. It is the only option for this awful disease. She will spend a majority of her time in and out of Toronto General Hospital for the rest of her life and will forever be watched closely post transplant.

The financial commitments associated with lung transplants are extensive! It is thousands of dollars monthly in medication for the rest of her life, travel to and from Lindsay to downtown Toronto very often, extended stays in the city and all the added costs associated with keeping her alive and well.

Like I said before, for anyone who knows my Mom knows that she doesn’t like to ask for help. The reason I’m creating this gofundme is because as much as our whole family has been assisting financially in any way possible, she still doesn’t like to ask for help financially. I don’t want her to go in to this surgery with any other thought or stress on her mind, other than making it through this surgery and recovery! Since she has been unable to work and add to her finances, it has added more stress for her during this already stressful time.

There have been many people asking how they can help her, so I decided to create this gofundme to hopefully help take the financial burden of this off of her mind.

I can’t wait to hear my Momma talk and hum for hours! ❤️

Thank you to everyone from the bottom of my heart for the continued support and love for such an amazing woman!

And if anything, I ask that you consider becoming an organ donor. ❤️

Love,

Justine

Xo