Medical Support for Jennifer Akers

As many of you know Jennifer was diagnosed with Covid in April of 2021. For the months following her covid diagnosis she continued to progressively get more and more short of breath. In November she went to the ER with severe shortness of breath, and it was then she was found to have numerous blood clots in both of her lungs. Her platelets were also dangerously low, so she was immediately transferred to Emory in Atlanta. Once at Emory they found another blood clot in her heart. It was discovered she has immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and anti phospholipid syndrome (APS). The ITP causes her to have chronically low platelets. The APS is rare, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US per year, and it causes her immune system to mistakenly attack the normal proteins in her blood. APS then causes blood clots to form in arteries, veins, and organs. After spending almost 2 weeks in Emory, all while going through multiple, expensive tests, and receiving medications that were unsuccessful, she was sent home to see if her platelets would come up on their own. Jennifer spent the next few months taking additional meds with no luck, and in January she was admitted back to the hospital for pneumonia. She spent 2 days in the hospital before being released home on oxygen. Since then she has been unable to come off oxygen, and she can only walk a few steps before getting short of breath and her oxygen saturation dropping to the 70’s (normal is > 90%). Jennifer’s doctors at Emory have told her the only way to get better is with surgery, so she is scheduled to undergo a pulmonary thromboendarterectomy on March 14th. This procedure involves opening her chest and removing all the chronic clots in her lungs. It’s been shown to be a very successful procedure, but will require a 3-6 month recovery.

Jennifer has been unable to work since November of 2021, all while incurring massive medical bills. Troy, her husband, is a Bibb Co firefighter who’s working OT in an attempt to cover the added medical expenses, but it’s still not enough. As you can imagine this is adding extra stress to Jennifer that she doesn’t need at this time. If you see fit to help them during this time they would greatly appreciate it, and above all they would covet your prayers as Jennifer faces her upcoming surgery.