Heart surgery for Cheryl Paicius
Donation protected
When the rest of us were starting to celebrate our Fourth of July weekend with hot dogs and fireworks, Cheryl Paicius was starting the fight of her life.
That battle led Cheryl to a three-week stay in the intensive care unit at two different hospitals, three heart stents placed after a failed attempt to take her off of a heart pump, and the looming possibility of a heart transplant.
Cheryl, who's heart was already damaged by a bout of Rheumatic fever as a child, had suffered a heart attack months before that went undiagnosed by her doctor. During a routine checkup in September 2016, test results came back that her heart function had worsened. As the months marched on, Cheryl's condition worsened, and pleas from family members to her doctor asking him to run more tests went unanswered.
Finally, on that July Fourth weekend, Cheryl was checked into the hospital, where the cause of the health issues, the undiagnosed heart attack, was discovered.
Cheryl's Covered California health plan isn't accepted by hospitals within the state. So she was left trying to find a hospital that would perform the surgery without insurance. After a tireless persistence by the ICU staff at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, California, UCSF's ICU accepted her.
Now Cheryl waits to have a mechanical pump installed, which will buy her the time she needs to wait for a donor's heart. But she'll have to live in a hotel near UCSF for six weeks after the surgery, while being attended to by two family members, to ensure her body doesn't reject the new pump.
When she finally receives a new heart, she'll return to a hotel near UCSF to ensure her body doesn't reject the new organ.
Your donations will give Cheryl a fighting chance at life by assisting in paying her mounting medical costs.
That battle led Cheryl to a three-week stay in the intensive care unit at two different hospitals, three heart stents placed after a failed attempt to take her off of a heart pump, and the looming possibility of a heart transplant.
Cheryl, who's heart was already damaged by a bout of Rheumatic fever as a child, had suffered a heart attack months before that went undiagnosed by her doctor. During a routine checkup in September 2016, test results came back that her heart function had worsened. As the months marched on, Cheryl's condition worsened, and pleas from family members to her doctor asking him to run more tests went unanswered.
Finally, on that July Fourth weekend, Cheryl was checked into the hospital, where the cause of the health issues, the undiagnosed heart attack, was discovered.
Cheryl's Covered California health plan isn't accepted by hospitals within the state. So she was left trying to find a hospital that would perform the surgery without insurance. After a tireless persistence by the ICU staff at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, California, UCSF's ICU accepted her.
Now Cheryl waits to have a mechanical pump installed, which will buy her the time she needs to wait for a donor's heart. But she'll have to live in a hotel near UCSF for six weeks after the surgery, while being attended to by two family members, to ensure her body doesn't reject the new pump.
When she finally receives a new heart, she'll return to a hotel near UCSF to ensure her body doesn't reject the new organ.
Your donations will give Cheryl a fighting chance at life by assisting in paying her mounting medical costs.
Organizer
Kim Barberg
Organizer
San Jose, CA
