Hello, my name is Cara. Many of you know that my mom, Erin, owns Bo Jon's Flowers. The intention was that one day I would take over the flower shop; however, health issues between both my parents are forcing us to take a different path for now.
My brothers, Liam and Jonah, are helping me with this GoFundMe as all three of us are overwhelmed with the idea of doing it alone and failing. Our mom's last open-heart surgery totaled around $140,000 for the surgery alone. We tried to do a GoFundMe, which raised a mere $50.
What people tend to forget is that there were many trips from Hudson, as that is where we lived at the time, to Mayo. Many of them were overnight stays. Between gas, hotels, food, medicine, insurance, plus insurance deductibles, we were financially strapped.
The other obstacle that most people don't know is that with our mom's conditions, she can't take most medicines that would be prescribed for her various conditions. For example, she has severe rheumatoid arthritis that not only impacts her joints but also her soft tissue. There are some days during a flare-up that she has it in her eyes, lungs, and heart. There were eight different medicines she would be "allowed" to take because of her heart condition.
This was painful to watch as we quickly realized that the medicines were making her worse. Her quality of life declined rapidly. Then there was one last medicine; it was new, but Mayo said it was promising. So far, no one had any adverse reactions to it. Yay, there was hope!
Then there was the part of how those meds were administered. My dad had to give them to her. He often said the needle might as well have been a harpoon because of the size of it and how much pain it caused my mom. A few weeks later, our mom started having major allergic reactions to it. She was the first patient to have a reaction to it.
Here we are today, doctors are thinking outside the box of what she can take. Unfortunately, most of the time that this happens, it IS NOT covered by insurance because it hasn't been FDA approved for the way that she is using it. That means our parents are paying out of pocket for those medications.
My mom has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM for short). Quite simply, her heart likes to grow extra big, oftentimes creating its own obstruction. My mom's last open-heart surgery was eight years ago. The doctors have been holding out as long as they possibly can to do another open-heart surgery because of her scar tissue. They say this will be the last open-heart surgery that she will be able to have.
Eight years ago, my siblings and I watched our mom hardly be able to walk from the bed to the bathroom. She was sleeping 22 hours a day as she was so tired. At the time, her body was only getting 12% oxygenated blood. She was passing out all the time when she did try to stand up, oftentimes injuring herself.
The surgery was extremely hard on our mom physically and mentally. Mentally hard on our dad and us as well. There wasn't anything that we could do to help her. It was devastating to watch. It was frustrating as we went about our lives while our mom continued to struggle with pain and healing.
Fast forward to today, our mom is waiting to get into Mayo. The Mayo Clinic knows our mom's medical history. She has so many rare combinations of things. We have had doctors look at her medical files, say explicit words, and walk out of the room. She is a complex case.
My mom has gone back to passing out several times a day among many other things. We aren't capable of doing all the things that we need to do to survive the day, let alone run a business, so with that, we have decided that we need to shut down the business. Sadly, our last day open will be Friday, November 21st.
Our mom will NOT be able to work while recovering from her surgeries. The length of time for her to heal between these surgeries will be longer than most normal people because of the complexity of her health conditions. During this time, my dad also needs to have several surgeries.
Their care will fall mostly onto me. I am not quite ready to run Bo Jon's on my own, never mind having to do it with one, if not two, of my parents down from a surgery. That is one of the decisions of why we have to close. My brother works a full-time job that is demanding and requires long hours, meaning he won't be here to help. My other brother works but can't drive, so I will have to give him rides to work, get my parents to and from appointments, while finishing my last year of high school. (I have extremely high standards for myself as far as my grades and my work. I can't let that slip now.)
We have watched my mom pour her heart out to giving so much to the community and surrounding communities. She is an incredibly caring and giving human being. I know her not being able to do more and take this time for herself is eating away at her. She's just that kind of person. If you know her, you are fortunate. (Chad Trainor of Urban Olive & Vine, Blooms for Rooms (688 rooms), hundreds of care packages to deployed soldiers, providing food for families in need, plus so much more that isn't seen or mentioned publicly.)
My brothers and I are asking for you to share this as much as possible. If thousands of people saw this and donated $1, it would be that easy, but people have to see it and want to help. We want to reach a point where my mom can focus on healing and recovery, not going into the operating room stressed about how we are going to afford the simplest things in life, let alone the medications she has to pay out of pocket for.
She has debated not having these surgeries and just living the rest of her days, not being a burden on us but helping others as much as she can. The truth is...
We need our mom! The community needs our mom! She is a symbol of a fighter. No matter what hand you are dealt in life, you don't give up. Over forty surgeries in her life and she still finds a reason to smile. She is a beacon of light for many, a sign of the good that is in this world.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story. If you take the time to share this and/or donate, thank you with every ounce of our beings.
Cara, Liam, and Jonah Powers
Organizer and beneficiary
Erin Powers
Beneficiary