Fundraising for Christine Levi

I am Jana (Waters) Goes Ahead. I am fundraising for my friend, who I also consider a sister, Christine Levi. She will be undergoing intense open heart surgery in Dallas, TX in October 2025. She will be required to stay in the hospital after surgery for a minimum of 2 weeks (possibly longer). Her family will be required to be there for the duration. I am requesting your assistance for their travel, food and housing during their time spent in Dallas.

Christine has been following her doctor’s orders and requirements to prepare for this surgery. She is thankful for the doctors and specialists for their expertise and welcomes surgery to get her health back on a path to be there for her family and friends.

If you don’t know Christine, she is from Oklahoma and is a member of the C&A Tribes of Oklahoma. She is a grandmother, a mother, a daughter, a sister, and an auntie to so many! As she has been there for us so many times, I pray that we can be there for her. Any assistance you can give will be welcomed and appreciated.

Christine’s FB post of her condition: Well, I've been contemplating making this post. And it's gonna be a long one, but wanted to share some about what's going on with me. A few close family and friends kinda know a little bit, but I just thought I'd share more.

Those of you that have seen me lately, have probably noticed my weight loss and probably think I'm on Ozempic like everyone else. Lol! I wish that was all it was, but it's not. But I have lost around 80+ plus pounds in the past few months, and I can definitely feel the difference.

Well, in May of 2020, around the time when Covid just started. I got sick, sick. Where I couldn't breathe, I couldn't walk or anything without almost panicking from not being about to be not being able to catch my breath. My family took me to the ER and had to just basically leave me there, because of the Covid restrictions. The Drs thought I had Covid because of my cough and being out of breath so bad. But they tested and tested me and I always came up negative. But I had blood clots in my legs and then I had some that had moved to my lungs. They ran all kinds of tests on me, and finally said that I had "Protein S Defiency", which makes my blood thick and easier to develop clots. They told me it was hereditary and said it runs in our family. Which explains a lot. I was in the hospital then for about a week. They put me on blood thinners then and said I had to be on them for the rest of my life. It a little while for me to get back to my lifestyle, but it changed a lot on what I could and couldn't do. And I have felt basically normal, just still get winded on inclines and different activities. Fast forward to now...

Back around the time of my mom's birthday at the end of February, I started noticing that my ankles swelling. Then it was my my legs and then around my abdomen (belly.) Then I started feeling like something wasn't right and just felt sick. The morning of my mom's birthday dinner, I went to the Urgent Care in Little Axe (Absentee Shawnee tribes) just to be safe. When I got out there, I was really short of breath and just didn't feel right. Plus I had gained a lot of weight. The Dr there noticed the swelling and shortness of breath and suggested that I go onto and ER (IHS), either at Ada or Lawton. I chose to go onto Ada, because of how well it's ran. And I'm so glad I did! They basically saved my life. I was so sick, they said it was a good thing I came in, who knows what would have happened if I didn't. They ran all kinds of tests and drew so much blood, and my lab numbers were so out of whack it was crazy. I was so sick, I barely remember the first night. My kidneys were really bad and same with my liver. Not to mention how hard my heart was working. They did put me on meds to draw the fluid off of to help relieve some of the pressure on my heart. And man, I dropped so much fluid weight. They had me on IV's and different meds, which worked to help get my numbers almost back to normal. I was there for about a week and they also diagnosed me as being pre-diabetic and changed my diet. And told me to follow up with my Dr, when I got home. I never felt so good to be home. I followed up at the clinic, and the Dr there told me that my potassium levels were low and gave me a prescription for it. So I did what they told me and started taking them. He then switched me to an Internal Medicine Dr. Which I so thankful for. He is really thorough and explains a lot. When I had my first appointment that week with him, he told me that I needed to come in that Friday to do labs again to see where I was and that he would see me the next Monday or Tuesday. So that Friday, I went back out to Little Axe for labs, and was something just didn't feel right, so I went by to see him, but he wasn't in. But I talked to his charge nurse and told her I had labs drawn but didn't feel good. She told me to go home and she would talk with him and let him know and would follow up with my labs and let me know if anything changes. I went home and told Jan I didn't feel good and needed to take a nap. Man, I fell asleep so hard, I didn't hear the phone at all until around 4:30 that afternoon, and it was the nurse. She sounded really concerned and told me that I was really sick and needed to go to the nearest ER. There isn't one right close to our house on Highway 9, so I Lisa take me over there. Isaiah went with us, since he was was my wheelchair pusher. After I got back in there, the people there had the same scared looks on their faces like they did when I was in ER in Ada. They started drawing labs and again, told me that I was really sick. They started IV's on me and said that I probably had congestive heart failure and my labs were all out of whack again. They told me that I needed to be transferred to the main hospital there in Norman.

By then, my brother George came, and seen how sick I was and he prayed for me and did some things for me before they took me in the ambulance. What I really remember is the next morning, waking up and all kinds of Drs and Nurses explaining things to me. My kidneys were trying to fail, my liver wasn't working good either and my right side of my heart was really weak. That once again, I was lucky that I went to the ER when I did. But that I wasn't in the clear yet. My brother had a sweat that next day for me and called and asked for prayers for me to his good friends. I really believe in our ways and know how powerful prayers are. It was crazy, because the next day, my Kidney doctor came by and said he couldn't explain it, but I kidneys completely turned around and my numbers were looking way better. Same with my liver. But that I still had problems with my heart. They put me on a highly restricted diet and same with my fluid intake as well. But it has changed my lifestyle and I'm happy with it. I stayed there in the hospital while they kept running tests and drawing labs. I was there for about a week. The scariest part, was not knowing if I was going to make it home. That's how sick I was. But just kept praying about things and left it up to the creator. I asked for prayers for all my doctors and nurses and to give them the things they needed to help me. I was there for about a week and walked out of there on my own. I lost so much weight and have stayed on my diet.

I feel a lot better, but have continued to see a Cardiologist, Pulmonologist and Kidney Specialist. They once thought it was a leaky valve and heart murmur. But continued to run tests on me. My Pulmonologist has basically been my life saver. He is so up front with things and really thorough about everything. Basically my tests didn't come out the way we had hoped. My right side of my heart is extremely damaged. And it's because of the clots in my lungs. They never really dissolved and have hardened to what he says are like concrete, which explained the shortness of breath. I have clots there in my lungs and in there is some narrowing in my arteries that being the blood back into my heart. Which lead to damage in the right side of my heart. Severe damage, to where they said my heart was so weak, it could stop any day and they probably wouldn't be able to help me if it did. He told me there was two options I had. To either take medicine to basically put a band aid on things and see how long my heart lasts. Or the other option was to have Open Heart Surgery and go in and cut the clots out of my lungs and clear the arteries. Talk about being overwhelmed. I was scared and felt completely lost when he told me that. I cried ( and am right now), when he explained thing to me. But after he said what the surgery would do for my heart and my health, there was really no choice. I want to be around for a lot longer, I want to see what the future holds for Blake and Isaiah, I want to see my little onery grandson Ja'Kobe grow up and I want to continue see all my nieces, nephews and their little families grow up together.

It's been a long few months of waiting and wondering if I would even be a candidate for the surgery. I've had more labs drawn and tests done that I can count. But it's all a part of the process.