Get Sarah back to good health!

Hello all, my name is Breanna and I am trying to raise money for my 25 year old sister Sarah. This has been really hard on our family, and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and ask for help is where we are at.. Some of you may know the situation with Sarah, but here's little back story.....

The week of January 8th, 2024, Sarah was waking up every morning with arm and chest pain. Sarah has suffered from allergies and asthma for as long as we can remember; so this didn't necessarily seem out of the ordinary for her. Fast forward to the middle of the night on January 12, Sarah woke up with extreme chest pain and could not breathe. Due to the cost, am ambulance was out of question, so she had her boyfriend Kevin rush her to Palos Hospital. At first the triage at Palos tried laughing it off saying she was having a panic attack. By the morning we received a phone call that her lungs and around them, were filled with blood. Quickly, Palos Hospital realized they were not equipped to handle this situation and transferred her to Northwestern Hospital Downtown ICU. At this point, Sarah was on life support. She was intubated, on a ventilator and an ECMO machine to allow her body to rest and figure out what exactly was happening. She was also put under strong sedation and would remain this way for the next 3 weeks.

After multiple tests, it was found that Sarah's mitro valve in her heart was completely deteriorated and would need to be replaced. On January 16th, she went in for her open heart surgery.. In the transition to the operation room while moving her from her regular bed to the operation table, the canula for the ECMO machine had ripped out of her artery. Now this became life saving surgery, as her artery has shredded. They had two minutes before she would of bleed to death.. She went 7 minutes without oxygen to her brain. Now her chest had to be opened, and the ECMO machine tubing was placed directly into her heart. After 9 hours in surgery, we were finally informed they were NOT able to procede with the heart surgery. After another 5 hours, they had to call the vascular team in to repair the shredded artery. At this point, Northwestern was now afraid she may have had a stroke or neurological damage. They have to wait a few more days to allow her body to heal and run more tests..

Multiple doctors now are informing us that Sarah is very very sick, and they never seen anything like this - Especially in someone who is only 25. They start contacting the NIH, the National Institutes of Health, as they have no idea what has caused all of this.

Flash forward to January 18, they now feel she is strong enough to proceed with the open heart surgery. Another 8 hours later, they were finally able to replace her heart valve but they still left her chest open to determine that everything went okay and there was no infections. Now a few more days of rest to try to allow her body to be taken off the ventilator.

January 20th, Sarah was finally able to be taken off the ECMO machine and her chest was able to be closed up. Now the plastic surgery team had to take part of her muscle, and cover the wounds on both of her thighs from previous machines.

January 28th, SARAH WAS FINALLY REMOVED OFF THE VENTILATOR! They stop sedating her and she is finally awake! Although she is unable to speak or move.

January 29th, Sarah now has an extremely high fever and an infection somewhere in her body and is in septic shock... Her chest is filled with fluid again.

After conversing with the NIH, doctors believe Sarah has an extremely rare autoimmune disease called Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA.) “EGPA" only has 2-5 new cases a year, per 1 million people. Doctors think this is what caused her body to attack her heart valve, causing the rupture. They began treatment for this, but as of Feb 19th we still do not have a definitive diagnosis.

On February 4, Sarah was finally moved down from the ICU to a step down unit and was starting to be visited by occupational and physical therapy. She is still very weak, with minimal voice and movement. At this point she has been bedridden for 3 weeks. The following day she woke up in extreme pain and numbness in both legs and hands and they found blood clots in both her legs and arms.

On February 12, with the help of PT and her chair lift, Sarah took 5 steps!!! This was a HUGE progression from where we previously were. She half passed her swallow test and was able to start drinking thick slushy like drinks and soft foods.

As of today, Sarah still has a VERY long road ahead of her. She is still in Northwestern and we're hopeful in the next few weeks that she'll be moved to a rehab center. She is still unable to stand or walk without the help of a lift, she can barely speak as they say her vocal chords are not touching/moving, and as of right now are discussing possibly another procedure, this one on her vocal chords. They are estimating full recovery will take at least a year. She still has drains from her incisions and wound vacs on both legs/groin areas.

Sarah's boyfriend Kevin has taken a leave of absence from work to be her main caregiver and voice when shes unable to speak. They both share an apartment together, as well as a vehicle and their precious puppy dog, Izzy. My mom, sister, brother and I are trying to switch off and allow Kevin a break to go home and shower, sleep, etc.

Our family has been trying to help to the best of our ability, but we are really starting to struggle. We understand times are tough for everyone, and everyone is going through their own things. We want Sarah to be able to focus on healing and not worry about if she will have a roof over her head or a vehicle to use when the time comes as she is at risk of losing both, as well as the medical bills are starting to pour in. A simple share can be the most helpful thing to get the word out. We appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read this and those who continuously reach out and check on Sarah. If you believe in a higher power, we ask you to keep Sarah in your thoughts and prayers. She's a very strong girl, but what she has gone through is unimaginable.

If you do not want to donate here, I also have venmo or quickpay/zelle. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Love always, Breanna and family.

Update Feb 19, 2024: Sarah now has surgery scheduled for Wednesday, Feb 21st. Her left vocal chord doesn't move and is pushed very far over and has a curve in it, so her vocal chords are not touching when she tries to speak. This is why she doesn't have her voice and which is why thin liquids still are going the wrong way into her lungs-there's a big gap between them. The vocal chord being far over and the curve is from the breathing tube being in so long and it not moving is from the heart surgery. In the OR room they will be giving her anesthesia, she won't be fully asleep but half asleep and very numb. They will be injecting her left vocal chord with something to plump it up and help it move over and touch the right one which will hopefully give her voice back and help with the thin liquids going the wrong way. This is temporary and will only last 3 months. Therefore, she will need to keep getting it redone. After 9-12 months if it hasn't healed and gone back to normal, they will consider it to have permanent paralysis and we would have to discuss a more permanent solution. This is what we will start with and hope for the best. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far and please continue to help spread the word.