Rochelle Dudley's Big Heart

Hi, my name is Bailie Cronin and I am raising funds to help support Rochelle (Chelle) Dudley's recent medical bills and her upcoming heart transplant. Chelle has been our nanny since October 2021 and she immediately became part of our family. She has been such a blessing to our family and we love her dearly. Chelle has been a nanny for over 25 years. In addition to raising a lot of highly intelligent (she'll tell ya!) kiddos, she is an active member of her church where she is the choir director, a deaconess, in charge of finances, and works as a youth counselor.

Chelle caught RSV in November of 2022. RSV can be a serious virus in infants but for adults, it typically presents as the common cold. Shortly after getting sick, Chelle was struggling to breathe and saw her doctors a few times before they started to take a deeper dive into what was causing her shortness of breath. She was hospitalized for several days in early December so that they could pull fluid off of her heart. After stabilizing her and starting her on some new medication, she returned to life and work. She still wasn't feeling like her normal self so she had some more intensive tests and monitoring done. Soon after the holidays, Chelle found out that she was in heart failure and had cardiomyopathy. Her ejection fraction was 12. Normal is 50-70 and anything lower than 40 is considered heart failure. Chelle's EF of 12 indicated severe and serious disease. She was immediately admitted to the hospital to start IV medication to help her heart pump more efficiently. While on the IV medication, they did an MRI of her heart where they saw the damage caused by the RSV. She was starting to feel better and there was even talk of her going home with an external defibrillator, however, she quickly decompensated and was transferred to another hospital. Chelle remains in the ICU at the University of Colorado Hospital where she is on the transplant list and awaiting a new heart. She is unable to come off of the IV medication and is not able to go home until after the heart transplant. The wait time is unpredictable due to her rare blood type.

The money raised here will go directly to Chelle's medical bills to help ease some financial stress while she hospitalized and after she returns home following the heart transplant. After she returns home, she will require 24/7 nursing care in addition to very expensive medication. While Chelle does have insurance, she still has her deductible and copays/coinsurance to worry about. According to the most recent research, in 2020, a heart transplant cost an average of $1,664,800.

Thank you for giving back to the woman who gives so much to so many. If you aren't able to donate, please leave words of encouragement and say a prayer for Chelle.