Lisa's

LISA BOWMAN ROAD to HEART TRANSPLANT❤️

Lisa Bowman is my youngest sister, and she needs a heart transplant to survive.

Lisa was diagnosed with hypertension in her early 20s. Unfortunately, her medication did not control her hypertension, which led to congestive heart failure. Lisa has been fighting congestive heart failure for over 9 years now and her heart continues to get worse. She has been in and out of emergency rooms and admitted into hospital frequently due to her heart failure and shortness of breath.

We lost both of our parents to congestive heart failure. My father, a retired disabled military veteran, fought the disease for years, but lived long enough to see Lisa bring his last grandchild into the world. Lisa’s son Rayel, who just turned 21.
We lost our mom to congestive heart failure just last year. There were four occasions when Lisa and Mom were both in the hospital at the same time during 2014 and 2015 for congestive heart failure, and they got pacemakers around the same time.

Recently Lisa started having severe stomach pains, losing weight uncontrollably—35 pounds in less than a month—and becoming incredibly fragile. On June 29, 2017, her birthday, Lisa had an appointment with the UCSF Heart Transplant Team in San Francisco; she was in heart failure at the time and had to be admitted into the hospital right then. The treatment team informed us she needs a heart transplant to survive.

She also now has pulmonary hypertension, which is high pressure in her lungs, which is putting more stress on her heart. The medicine for this condition is extremely expensive. Lisa also needs continuous in-home care on a daily basis because she requires an IV pump 24/7 for a medication called Dobutamine which is only given by IV.
The plan is to do a “Bridge to Transplant,” which is for her to get an LVAD—a small pump implanted into her heart that will pump the blood for the heart, a small tube coming out of her side that is attached to a controller for the pump, and two battery packs that will need to be charged and changed every six hours. The LVAD is to keep her alive until a heart becomes available for the transplant surgery, which Lisa needs to survive.

This is a very serious and chronic condition that she has, which has caused a lot of mental, emotional and financial strain with major expenses still ahead. We appreciate any support you can give. Donations will help provide current care, medications, living expenses, traveling expenses and moving/relocation expenses. Soon we will need to relocate to San Francisco, California to be closer to UCSF Hospital where the transplant will be done. We currently live in Hercules, California.

To all her 49er fans out there: if you are connected with her on Facebook then you know that she is a die-hard 49ers fan win-lose-or tie. So please spread the word to Niners Empire that she needs all prayers going up for her. We want her to continue to be a die-hard Niners fan.

Lisa has spent her last 3 birthdays in the hospital. We would just like for her to celebrate the next one at home, not in the hospital fighting for her life.

Thanking you all in advance for your prayers and donations. My name is Vanessa Bowman, her sister. You can reach out to me on my Facebook page or on Lisa's page. I can also be reached via email at [email redacted]