Karen’s Journey

While my mom is not the type to “air out” personal strife, and she certainly would never take charity if it wasn’t 100% necessary, I have convinced her that the WORLD wants to support her on her journey and that she is worthy of that support!

For those who don’t know, mom was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in September of 2020. The world was in lockdown. She found out that, without treatment, her expected survival was 1-3 years, and the diagnosis had already been missed for a year by a careless primary care physician. Imagine finding out you have only a couple years to live but you can’t go anywhere. Bucket list was out of the question! By the time she received the diagnosis, she already required supplemental oxygen- meaning we were already limited in terms of activities.

After receiving her diagnosis, we realized that this must have been what my Aunt Kate, her identical twin sister, had passed away from three years prior. Initially we thought Aunt Kate had severe COPD, but after mom’s diagnosis we obtained genetic testing and found a variant - basically a broken gene that is likely the cause for her IPF. Unfortunately familial pulmonary fibrosis has an even poorer prognosis than idiopathic PF.

We are now working with Temple Health’s lung transplant team to try to get mom on the list for a single-lung-transplant. This process is beyond intense and overwhelming, but it is really the only option. Mom’s #1 goal is to be able to travel again. There are too many states she hasn’t yet visited!

Right now, she is on 10 liters of continuous oxygen to get around and can only stand and move around for about 3-4 minutes before sitting for a break. A new lung could give her a new lease on life.

With all the commuting back-and-forth to Temple and and non-covered medical expenses (medication without patient assistance program is >3000/month), we are humbly asking for your support. For those who know Karen, you know that she has the soul of an angel. She is a strong, faithful woman who would stop at nothing to care for her family and loved ones. If, for some reason, she is unable to get a lung transplant, all donations from this GoFundMe will go towards long-term care needs. So, while she will NEVER ask for help, I am asking on her behalf, mainly so that she can see how many people are pulling for her success in this journey.

Thank you for reading and thank you so much to all who have offered kind words, prayers, and love thus far. And thank you to all who are registered organ donors!!