Hello my name is Sarah Rodriguez. I am fundraising for myself. On September 23, 2021 I went into the hospital with complications from Covid. The doctors informed my loved ones that I was not going to make it. I had sepsis, multiple organ failure, a pulmonary embolism, stroke, and was suffering from congestive heart failure and hypertension. I woke up a couple of months later from sedation and a coma, with a tracheostomy, tubes and wires everywhere and my hands and my feet were gangrene due to the vasopressors that I was given to keep my heart pumping. I had lost blood flow to my hands and my feet while I was in a coma so they started to die. I had lost the ability to talk because of the trach and I couldn’t move because of the coma. I also coded in the hospital a total of 4 separate times and came back each time. My whole world had been turned upside down. I was told that while I was in a coma that the doctors wanted to amputate my hands and my feet. My family told them no, that if I would of woken up without hands or feet I would have not wanted to be alive. They were right. All this happened from getting sick with Covid. The only pre existing condition I had was that a couple weeks earlier I had lost my baby girl Halsey to stillbirth and Covid. I think the grief combined with Covid took over and I got really sick. I had given up. I had to be intubated and put in the ICU for months. A year and a month later and I am still in a rehabilitation facility. I recovered from a lot of the initial diagnosis. I had to undergo dialysis because I was told my kidneys were shot and I would have to keep doing dialysis until I could get a transplant. I had to learn how to eat, talk, move my hands, walk and everything else all over again. It is a miracle that I am alive. A year and two months later, I no longer require dialysis, my kidneys came back to full function, and I am off the ventilator something the doctors said I would not ever get off of. I can breathe on my own and now I’m overcoming the battle of fighting to keep my feet. It is a battle I have won because of God and because of my faith I told the doctors no each time they came into my room wanting to amputate. I saw that God had healed my hands from gangrene and I knew He would heal my feet even though my feet were in worse shape. I literally stand here today a walking testimony of God's amazing miracles. By God’s grace I still have my feet, and I am so incredibly blessed and happy to have the ability to walk. It is an adjustment losing my toes, but it could have been so much worse.

It's hard for anyone to ask for help. Especially me, I used to be a super proud person. Going through this experience has showed me and taught me so much. I can humble myself and admit that after being in the hospital this long I need help. I need help starting over. I want to start off with getting some shoes because I can finally wear them after a year of having my feet bandaged from the wounds. I also need help because I will be discharged soon and I need time to get back on my feet. 

I don’t know how much longer I will be in the hospital, but I’m thankful I haven’t needed much until now. I will be starting physical therapy now to help me with my balance. Some days are better than others. I still have days where I have trouble breathing, I’m always tired. My body is still healing. Its hard not to get sad and depressed being in the hospital this long. It’s a struggle. But I’m alive. I already have so much to be thankful for.

I am sharing some pictures below of my healing journey. My toes weren’t able to be saved and they were amputated last month.