Brooklyn's Heart Surgery

On January 16th Brooklyn Beaman, 17 year old daughter of Debby and Wes Beaman, suffered from cardiac arrest while preparing for Army Basic Combat Training where she was scheduled to go this summer.  During a 2 mile run she collapsed and her heart stopped.  Debby performed CPR while waiting for an ambulance.  When the ambulance arrived they were able to get her heart going again by using a Defibrillator.  She was Life Flighted to the ER at Primary Children’s Medical Center where they were able to stabilize her.  After a few days and every test imaginable the medical staff determined that she suffered from a rare condition called an Anomalous Coronary Artery.  Basically she had both the right and left coronary artery coming off the right side of the Aorta.  Under stress this caused there to be no blood supply to the left side of the heart causing it to go into Ventricular Fibrillation.  Once the cause was determined she was moved the University of Utah Medical Center for emergency open heart surgery.  Thanks to the great staff at both facilities Brooklyn is now stable and both arteries are where they belong.  It will be a long road to recovery but at least she is now on her way.

Unfortunately, after the surgery, Wes and Debby where notified that neither of the facilities were “in network” for their health insurance and they will most likely be responsible for a very hefty portion of the costs for all the procedures performed. With a long stay in the hospital ICU, multiple scans and open heart surgery the costs are going to be extremely high.  

Thanks to their great neighbors and the medical staff at both the University of Utah, and Primary Children’s not much assistance has been required to this point.  However, now they are facing hefty medical bills. Many of you have asked how you can help, here is an opportunity.  Any donation would be greatly appreciated.