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Support Donna's Fight for Life

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My mother, Donna, came to the United States to pursue the American Dream. As a young girl in Clarendon, Jamaica, her lifelong dream was to become a nurse. She left home at the age of 17 to pursue opportunities that eventually led her to the U.S in 1999. She worked tirelessly to provide for her children, working any jobs she could find. Eventually, she pursued nursing after working as a Nurse Assistant for years. She did it! She became an LPN, purchased her first home, met and married her husband William, bought her car, and became a US Citizen. She was finally happy - she worked so hard for everything she had and was living the dream.

In mid-September, she began having coughs that were nonspecific. It should have went away, but they persisted for several weeks. Then came the shortness of breath. Unable to take steps to walk while at work, she went to the local emergency room where she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She took the course of antibiotics without improvement. Several doctors and hospital admissions later, my mother advocated for a biopsy of her lung to determine the root cause of her shortness of breath.

Shortly after the biopsy, her shortness became unbearable and her oxygen saturation began to drop. From one moment to the next, my mother became critically ill and was put on a ventilator. When that wasn’t working, she was transferred to another hospital and put on ECMO, also known as life support. She’s been on life support for several weeks, completely sedated. The weeks that she had been there have been touch and go. We are constantly reminded she is the sickest patient in the hospital and they do not know what will happen. We almost lost her twice in these 5 weeks, and the thought of losing another pillar of our family in such a short time is unbearable.

The biopsy finally came back, and she was diagnosed with organizing pneumonia, likely caused by an underlying (undiagnosed) autoimmune disease. I have been working tirelessly with doctors to find any ailment that could trigger this type of pneumonia and we believe we may have found something. Results are pending.

She is currently fighting for her life, and her family is doing all they can to support her physically and financially. Medical bills are piling up, and we do not want her to lose all that she has worked so incredibly hard for. Please consider helping Donna. Any little bit helps.

The goal right now is to wake her from sedation, which has been challenging. There are huge risks to being on life support, one of which is altered mental status (unknown if it’s temporary or permanent). The doctors are concerned this might be happening since she has not been able to wake up and follow commands. She will be at the hospital for several months as they wean her off of the life support, and it will be months before her lungs are able to function on their own. Recovery from this diagnosis is 12 months or longer to get to a place where she’s able to walk, comb her hair, or even brush her teeth. My mom has a painfully long road to recovery ahead.

Thank you for your support and prayers.

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Donations 

  • demetria ronis
    • $20
    • 22 d
  • Lorna Savage
    • $100
    • 22 d
  • Angel Joy
    • $50
    • 1 mo
  • Anonymous
    • $100
    • 1 mo
  • James Pavelka
    • $100
    • 2 mos
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Organizer and beneficiary

Nickell Morgan
Organizer
Aberdeen, NJ
Donaree Broadnax
Beneficiary

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