Help the Storeys with Medical Expenses

Earlier this summer, Renata was admitted to the Mayo Clinic Cardiac ICU with a “Type B” aortic dissection, a nightmare scenario for anyone with Marfan Syndrome. Renata’s descending aorta, responsible for blood flow to the major systems of the body, had been pulling itself apart for an unknown period of time, and was miraculously caught before becoming catastrophic. During her week of heavy observation, Dan and Renata realized they were looking down a long road, involving two major open heart surgeries, limited mobility during, and significant time away from work while recovering between the Mayo Clinic and their home in Grand Forks. The first surgery is scheduled for September 13th, when a new mechanical valve will replace the faulty one at the root of the “candy cane” shaped aorta and the walls of the ascending aorta, or the top curve of the candy cane, will be patched and reinforced with a mesh graft. This is a risky operation and will require at least a week in recovery at Mayo and several weeks at home with extremely limited movement and stress to keep Renata’s heart rate and blood pressure from spiking. The second surgery to repair the descending aorta will come soon after the recovery period from this procedure. We’ve set up this GoFundMe in an effort to not only help with the expenses surrounding a week at Mayo, but to mitigate any stressors during Renata’s recovery including childcare, loss of income, related travel, and temporarily outsourcing household tasks to allow Dan to focus on providing care for Renata and the kids.