In loving memory of Cindy Ann Berg

It is with such deep sadness and heartbreak that we announce the passing of Cindy Ann Berg, mother to my husband, Mikael Berg, and also to my sister-in-law, Heather Sawyer. A dearly held mother-in law to myself, and a beloved grandma to her five grandchildren.

Cindy suffered a heart attack in her home in Sisseton, South Dakota on March 2nd. Her roommate Richard reported to us that he found her unconscious and called 911.

It took the ambulance over 30 minutes to arrive to Cindy's place, so she was without a pulse for at least that long.

Paramedics were able to resuscitate Cindy and she was then airlifted to Sanford Medical Center in North Dakota where she immediately underwent emergency surgery.

It was then discovered that she had coronary artery disease, which caused the heart attack. One of her arteries was 100% blocked and a second artery had smaller blockages as well.

During this initial life saving surgery she had two cardiac arrests but was successfully revived after both.

A stent was placed in her artery and a heart pump called an Impella was also inserted. Cindy then was moved to the ICU where she was put into a medically induced coma and placed on a ventilator.

Her blood pressure needed to be carefully controlled, and her body was cooled for 72 hours in an attempt to protect her brain from any further damage.

Numerous medications were administered through an IV and she required a feeding tube and catheter as well.

Many procedures were performed during this critical time in efforts to keep Cindy alive. This was an especially scary time for us all. We were informed that Cindy was very ill, and that her condition was extremely fragile. The doctors and nurses were unsure if she would even survive the night. However, she did, and as the days progressed complications arose.

During the early days of her hospital stay Cindy developed pneumonia and was administered antibiotics to treat it, which they successfully did. She also experienced bleeding at the site of her heart pump. They may have done a blood transfusion during this time, and they needed to remove the Impella. Her heart thankfully seemed to be doing ok without it.

It's difficult to recall the exact order that each complications occured, as there were many. However, the first major problem happened not long into her hospital stay when they noticed her abdomen was very swollen and bloated. It was either an MRI or CT scan that showed that Cindy had holes in her intestines.

Since Cindy had no pulse for over 30 minutes after her heart attack, blood flow to her organs, including her intestines, was completely blocked during that time. This caused much of her intestinal tissue to die. Her intestinal walls were also perforated, causing the contents of Cindy's intestines to leak into her abdominal cavity causing infection and pain.

Cindy needed emergency surgery immediately. Not only to clean out her abdominal cavity where her bowels had emptied into, but also to remove the dead portions of her intestines and hopefully reconnect them in a way that wouldn't require her to need a colostomy bag for the rest of her life.

Mike was informed that his mother had an incredibly low chance of the surviving this surgery and that her heart was just not strong enough, but that without it she would surely die. As she went into surgery that night we were anticipating the worst. Just waiting for that phone call was so scary and difficult.

The surgery took a few hours and Cindy did make it through. We were so relieved. However, the surgeon had to temporarily close up her abdomen only to perform more surgery later to clean her out again, and to reconnect intestinal tissue. Cindy made it through it all somehow, and we were relieved that she would not need a colostomy bag.

We could breathe a little bit, but the fear of losing her was ever present. From day to day we did not know what to expect. It was always waiting for that next dreaded phone call from the hospital.

Cindy did end up experiencing internal bleeding once again in her abdominal cavity. She was given another blood transfusion and taken off of her blood thinners and it seemed to be under control after that. At least for the time being.

Aside from the fact that her heart and other bodily organs had been damaged, the huge concern we had throughout this horrendous ordeal was her brain. We had no way to know at this point just how much brain damage occurred as a result of her heart attack. Her body was completely deprived of oxygen for likely around 45 minutes.

Our main concern was that if she survived she would have to live in a vegetative state or have sustained such brain damage that her quality of life would greatly suffer.

This was maybe the most difficult part of all throughout. Each time a complication would occur Mike and Heather would either need to give permission to go forward with medical procedures for Cindy, or they could choose to just let their mom die. To not continue to keep putting her through all these procedures.

They had to make these decisions quickly and without having the valuable information necessary to make such life or death decisions.

Mikael and his sister had no idea if their mother would ever be able to breathe on her own without a ventilator. At one point it was thought that she may require a tracheostomy as a permanent way to help her breathe and also a feeding tube going to her stomach. They didn't know if she would ever be able to eat and drink normally ever again.

They didn't know if she would be able to talk again, or be able to walk. Would she be able to recognize her loved ones, or even know who she herself was? We feared she would never be able to care for herself in any capacity ever again.

We also were very aware of the fact that Cindy had a very long and difficult road ahead of her. We knew she'd likely never get to go back home and that the remainder of her life would surely be spent in a care facility or nursing home.

We didn't want any of this suffering for her. We just were waiting and hoping that Cindy would give us some signs that would tell us what direction to go. We all only wanted what would be best for her. The last thing we wanted was for her to suffer.

The MRI of her brain didn't answer many questions. It showed that she had suffered at least one stroke and she had some areas of swelling and hemorrhaging. However, the doctors didn't seem overly concerned about any major brain damage.

We often felt frustrated and confused because we would hear one thing from one Dr. and then another thing from another Dr. Cindy's prognosis felt ever changing depending on who we spoke with, and they all had different levels of optimism.

One day we would be given positive news that gave us hope and then the next phone call would rip that hope right away from us. Throughout her nearly month long hospital stay we felt as if we were on an emotional roller coaster within an awful living nightmare.

The truth is, it seemed, that no one knew for sure how much damage her brain had sustained until she was able to come out of sedation, be more alert, and show us all what she was and wasn't capable of doing.

Our first couple of visits with mom were hard. It was so awful seeing her on the ventilator and with the feeding tube. All the machines monitoring her vitals. Her wrists were restrained so she couldn't rip anything out of her body. She was sedated and mostly unresponsive, except when she would show agitation and distress. She was coughing from the pneumonia.

We just so badly were hoping that she could get off the ventilator soon, but they were having a really hard time getting her to that point where Cindy was ready, and it was safe to try.

She eventually came out of sedation more often and the nurses told us that she was able to follow simple commands off and on. She would sometimes wiggle her toes or give a thumbs up when asked to. As the days progressed she became more alert and responsive, and they finally were able to successfully take her off the ventilator.

This was such a a relief. She was breathing well on her own and would not need a trach. We also hoped that maybe now she could talk to us, if she was even able to. She only had the feeding tube down her throat now, and she started working with a speech therapist.

We became so hopeful when the nurse told us that Cindy knew her own birth date. We were now starting to feel like Cindy was, in fact, still in there. I remember how exciting it was to hear that a nurse had commented on the Broncos blanket that Heather gave her mom, and mom was able to nod her head yes when the nurse asked if that was her favorite football team. Also, when Cindy was asked what her favorite music was the nurse said that she was able to answer by saying, "country." This was amazing to hear.

When Cindy's brother Tim and his wife Joy visited her days after that she was talking to them, laughing, and even asked for a diet mountain dew, which she's always loved. Tim joked with her about her favorite wrestler, Roman Raines, and how she needs to get out of there to watch him with grandma. She laughed and said, "Yeah."

This was awesome news to us. He even recorded her with his phone to show us. It was so unbelievable to see mom being mom. Sadly, the hopefulness we all felt didn't last very long.

Mike and the boys visited her one last time on Saturday, the day before Easter. I was so upset that I was sick and unable to join them. At that time, of course I didn't know it would be the final visit.

Cindy was awake and alert during their time together, and she really looked at the boys, especially Max. She did talk to Mike and he had a hard time both hearing her and understanding her, which was frustrating for both of them.

Mike said that his mom kept motioning like she was drinking out of an invisible glass, and at one point he thinks she may have asked him to get Mike. So the visit was bittersweet, but I know he was so grateful to be able to have that time with his mom while she was alert and able to see him and talk to him.

The next day, Easter Sunday, Mike talked to a nurse from the hospital. His mom was bleeding internally again. This time worse than before. It was coming out of both ends this time. She was given another blood transfusion. Mike was told a Dr. would call him back.

During this time Heather and her husband Dan were on their way to pick up Heather's son Zachary so they could all see mom on Easter. They were expecting that they could actually talk with her and get to spend time with her and have a nice visit. They did not yet know that she was bleeding again and in the ER.

Very soon after he got that call, and was told that not only was his mom bleeding again, but that she had another heart attack. Mike was told that it took them 8 minutes to get his mom's heart beating again, and that her pulse was weak. Mike called Heather while she was on her way to the hospital to tell her what had happened.

The doctor then explained to Mike and Heather over the phone that their mom had a major GI bleed and that she's unable to continue the medication she needs for her heart as it's causing the bleeding. Without this necessary medication they were told that she will just continue to have heart failure.

The Dr. went on to explain to them that Cindy had been through so much, and that her condition was very fragile. Her heart and her body just weren't strong enough to continue on much longer.

The surgeon then told Mike that he and Heather have a choice to make. The medical team could continue their efforts to keep Cindy alive, and keep trying to resuscitate her every time she goes into cardiac arrest, or they could do comfort care for her.

Comfort care would mean giving Cindy both pain and anxiety meds so that she could pass away without any discomfort or fear.

As difficult of a decision that this was to make, Mike and Heather knew what they needed to do for their mother.

It was only a few short hours later that Cindy was taken off of life support, and she then peacefully passed within minutes, while being held in her daughter Heather's arms. Her grandson Zach was right there with her also, as was Heather's husband Dan.

Needless to say, the grief that both Mike and Heather are experiencing is profound. They've lost their mother who was so precious to them. Cindy's entire family is in so much emotional pain.

Cindy was only 60 years old. We all had hoped that we would get many more years with her. There were so many more memories we had hoped to make with her. She is going to be so dearly missed. The hurt that her family is experiencing because of her death is indescribable.

In addition to the overwhelming grief, there is also the added stress and worry on our family about coming up with the financial costs.

Unfortunately, both Mikael and Heather are not in a position to be able to afford the cost of their mother's cremation, transportation of her remains to MN, funeral costs, and interment.

We know there will also be additional costs to make the trips to her home in South Dakota to deal with her possessions and getting her vehicle here to MN. Surely there may be other unexpected expenses that will arise along the way as well.

It's a 7 hour round trip and we struggled to even come up with the amount of gas and food money it requires for us to make the trips we made to the hospital while she was there, even having to borrow money to do so.

This is such an uncertain and stressful time. Mike has missed so much work, and in turn, so much pay. A lot of his time while off of work was spent trying to maintain his mental health, communicating with nurses and doctors, and of course being there for his mother in her time of need.

This ordeal has really hurt us badly financially. We are behind on bills, and it's even been a struggle to acquire groceries and household necessities.

Mike has been having an incredible hard time since the minute he got the phone call from Richard telling him his mother was in a helicopter heading to the hospital. Mentally and emotionally he's been really struggling.

So has Heather, Cindy's mom Nancy, and Cindy's brother Tim. The entire family has been hurting so badly for the last month and have been doing their best to support each other. That hurt will only continue after this incredible loss.

So after sharing all of this, I am humbly asking for any financial help that anyone is willing and able to give us during this extremely sad and stressful time.

I want to say that it certainly is not easy for us to request donations. We are well aware that life is a difficult struggle for everyone, and that money is scarce not only to us, but to so many. We more than understand that not everyone who may want to donate to our cause is able to do so.

Just know that we appreciate any love and support that you would like to give. Kind words and condolences are so much appreciated. Care and understanding is always welcomed.

So thank you so very much for taking the time to read. We are so grateful. We thank you and we love you.

At this time we do not know when and where Cindy's service will be held. Mike and Heather are currently in the midst of figuring everything out. We will announce the date and location as soon as the arrangements have been made.

Thank you all.

Amber Berg