My good friends, Mike, Karen, and Sydney Burkhardt, were a happy family living in the suburban North Hills of Pittsburgh with their 3 dogs and 2 guinea pigs. Mike, an Army veteran with over 20 years of service as a military police officer, is currently employed in Packaging and Receiving at a local engineering firm. Karen owns "Paws"itively "Purr"fect Pet Sitting, a pet sitting business serving various areas in Pittsburgh. Both are actively involved with their 14 year old daughter, Sydney, who enjoys school, music, and tennis lessons as well as her pet snake. Just a happy family living the dream.

In the middle of March 2021, Mike, Karen, and Sydney were diagnosed with COVID-19. Karen and Sydney recovered from the illness. Mike, despite being a healthy 55 year old man who had no underlying medical conditions, did not. Mike was admitted to the hospital on March 29. Continuing to worsen, Mike ended up in the ICU within a few days. He spent every day unable to do anything except lie in bed gasping for air. Over the next several weeks, COVID continued its battle on Mike. He was put on a BIPAP machine on the highest level of oxygen just so he could breathe. In addition, even with appetite stimulants, Mike suffered significant weight loss and the doctors had no other choice but to put in a feeding tube as well as a central line just so Mike had a chance of surviving. Mike suffered from continuous migraine-like headaches. He developed blood clots throughout his body. He had multiple occasions of going into A-fib. Then on Friday, April 30, Mike’s left lung collapsed. He was transported via helicopter to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital and is currently in need of a double lung transplant in order to survive. The situation is dire.

In the midst of this, Karen is running her business and trying her hardest to maintain a sense of normalcy for Sydney in their home. But being down 1 income is obviously taking its toll. Add to that the cost of ongoing weeks of ICU care, not to mention the upcoming medical costs with the hopeful lung transplant and anti-rejection drugs that Mike will need to be on for the rest of his life, as well as the projected 1 year of 24 hour care that is required for lung transplant recovery… Expenses are hard to determine at this point, but its going to at least be in the tens of thousands of dollars, and most likely more... it, quite frankly, is going to put things far over the top for them.

I’ve heard from many of you that you want to help but are unsure what to do. If you are serious about wanting to help, this is the way to do it. Please consider donating to help Karen and Mike with medical costs as well as costs to maintain the home for Karen and Sydney, so Mike has a place to come back home to recover and live. Your consideration, even just a few of your dollars, is going to go a long way to help this family.