Help support Kristina for Rare Heart Surgery

Hi, My name is Kryssy, I have created this page in hopes to assist my step sister, Kristina Castillo, Niece Thalia (18) , and Nephew Jayden (16) to be with their mom, during open-heart surgery. They will need to travel out of state and need help with airfare, lodging expenses and food. Anything extra that is contributed will go to any of the medical bills that will come from this. This is all very unexpected to us and seems to be falling into place quite rapidly. On Feb 21st Kristina was seen at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN by urgent referral from her team of doctors. In the last 3 years Kristina has suffered from the condition Pericarditis with Tachycardia. There has not been one doctor able to provide an answer to why her condition has progressively gotten worse, she has been considered a rare case that has met all interventions with no success.

In hopes for an answer the results came out worse than expected. The outcome of her in-depth tests and meeting with specialists for this disease at the Mayo clinic has still found her to be a complicated and rare case of this condition. She is currently in the stage of Onset Constrictive Pericarditis. This condition doesn't get better, only worse, causing more damage to the heart and surrounding muscles and increases risks of heart attack. It is a progression of scarring and hardening of the pericardium sac that protects and surrounds your heart. The harder the pericardium gets the more damage it will cause and ultimately the less time you may have.

Currently, they have provided just 2 options. Option 1. Would be to be placed on the only medication recently approved for pericarditis, Rilonacept, this has a cost of $30,000 a month, this medication is not a cure but a prolonging and the moment it is stopped you will be back at square one. Option 2. A procedure called Pericardiectomy, this is an open heart surgery where they completely remove the protective pericardium sac from around the heart. This procedure is extremely rare, only 30-50 cases a year and must be completed by someone who specializes in it, there are not many doctors that perform this.

During her appointment at the clinic she was told they may not be able to schedule an appointment for about 6 months, due to the amount of pain she is in they cannot go much further with upping the dosage to her current medications, she now has an appointment the first week of March to meet with the surgeon that would perform a Pericardiectomy. We do not know how quickly they will want her to get there but we do know we do not have a lot of time. Her pain is growing to be immeasurable.

The reality is Kristina is a young 40-year-old, single mom who will fight hell or highwater for her kids and always has but she's suffering. There is no quality of life, she survives in pain and is trying to work and be there for her kids as it is. $30,000 a month is not a realistic answer, not only that, but it is also not guaranteed. For Kristina to have the pericardiectomy procedure, it can and will ultimately change her life for the better. You can live a long healthy life without the pericardium and be cured of the debilitating pain weeks after the surgery that goes without saying it will be hard.

The surgery will be out of state in either Ohio or Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic but their family needs help as they are not in a place financially to cover this unexpectedly. Thalia and Jayden do not want to leave their mom alone to do this, she is their sole caretaker and their everyday person, this is not a simple surgery it's very scary and dangerous and very expensive. She still has a long life to live and be with her kids, she has already missed out on so much with this illness and it continues to take away from the family. We are asking for any possible help to get the family to make it through this unimaginable time.

We live in separate states but have been in each other lives over 25 years, and I have been a part of the calls with the doctors and surgeons, asking of all the questions and ultimately have witnessed the crumbling of a human being not knowing honestly if they are going to live or die, and what arrangements to make for the kids if something happens. To have these conversations with the kids has been devastating, but a very real reality and this is the first sign of hope that there is a resolution. Today Kristina is not the same person she was 3 years ago just unrecognizable. The eager and ready to make plans for the future, looking forward to the next life of phase with the kids, all of it just gone. Due to all the hardship and medication she has transformed physically and mentally and unfortunately one day at a time has a whole different meaning. Please help us in sharing Kristina’s story and hopefully easing the financial burden that comes with this as we do not know fully what that may be, but we want to make sure the kids have the ability to be with her.

Kristina’s pericarditis journey:

There is so much to share and cover that I don't think there is enough space to really express the depth of all of this.

In 2021, Kristina began progressively feeling pain in her chest, collar bone and face, until it quickly sent her to the ER. They found fluid around her heart, she was sent into surgery immediately to perform a Pericardiocentesis, this is a procedure that drains fluid from around the heart, They removed over 32 ounces of the fluid placing pressure on her heart. Along with that they found blood clots and evidence of a minor heart attack. They determined that this began from a virus and placed her on Antibiotics, Steroids, Colchicine, and an enormous amount of ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation. She was told she should expect to heal and recover in about 3 months. Not long after she continued to have painful attacks in her chest and continued to seek help and increased medications. She was soon diagnosed with Pericarditis and again informed continuing the medications they would expect her to recover. Pericarditis is the condition of inflammation of the pericardium sac around the heart and Tachycardia is an abnormal high resting heart rate.

Within this time Kristina and her two children were in the middle of relocating to Texas from Oregon in hopes for a better opportunity and embark on new positives in life. During this process she obtained new care providers and has continued to be in the constant care of doctors trying to assist in her recovery. She has been hospitalized 3 more times since arriving to Texas and an increased daily dosage of 23 medications. Her symptoms have continued to worsen, the pain is more constant, excessive sweating for no reason, incessant shaking, trembling and pain of her hands and arms. Pain from swelling in her hands, legs and feet, rashes appearing on her face, difficulty breathing, her heart rate sits at 100 and above resting. Unable to do the simplest normal task that we may take for granted everyday has been an obstacle for her. Only being told they don't know what to do and continue to adjust medications. She has been under the care of cardiologists, heart failure doctors, Rheumatologist, and therapy. The Rheumatologist reached out to begin the process to the Mayo Clinic as all doctors had exhausted all resources. Which has led us to where we are today.