Help Aleasha with Her Surgery
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Aleasha has worked in healthcare for 23 years. She has worked across Southern Illinois in Carbondale, Herrin and two hospitals in Mount Vernon. She is a mother of two daughters. Mikaela (18), is a freshman at Rend Lake College and Mikanda (16), is a sophomore at Mt. Vernon Township High School. Her husband Sean is supporting her throughout the process.
Aleasha has been diagnosed with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension or CTEPH. According to the Chest Foundation, "Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a rare and progressive form of pulmonary hypertension (PH). CTEPH is caused by blood clots that don’t dissolve in the lungs. These clots cause scar-like tissue that clogs up or narrows the small blood vessels in the lungs." Symptoms of CTEPH include: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), shortness of breath, palpitations, edema (swelling caused by excess fluid trapped in your body's tissues), fatigue, weakness, swelling of the legs, dizziness, tightness in the chest or belly, fainting, coughing up blood and right-sided heart failure.
The preferred treatment of CTEPH is pulmonary thromboendarterectomy but this is only available if the blood clots are accessible. The second surgery of choice is BPH or balloon pulmonary angioplasty. This treatment typically requires multiple treatments. Another form of treatment is double lung transplant and medications. Without treatment CTEPH is fatal. Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy removes the tissue from the lungs that can be reached. If the tissue at the bottom lobes of the lungs cannot be reached, the BPH with be performed. BPH does not remove the tissue but instead, they "balloon" the narrowed areas in the lungs and the tissues stay in the arteries.
Aleasha anticipates that her surgery will be June or July of 2021 at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH. She will be living in Cleveland Ohio for a month. During this month she will spend 3 weeks in the hospital, one of those weeks ill be in the ICU and two weeks in the step down unit. This will be followed by a week of follow-ups. Due to the increased likely-hood of developing blood clots, Alesha and Sean will most likely be driving to Ohio and from Ohio. The surgery is quite invasive and it will take many months for Aleasha to heal. For this reason, she will have to take off work for 3-6 months. We ask that you please help support Aleasha and her family in this time by donating and sharing this page.
The psalmist wrote: "The heavens tell the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made. Day after day they tell their story; night after night they tell it again. They have no speech or words; they have no voice to be heard. But their message goes through all the world; their words go everywhere on earth" (Ps.19:1-4)
Aleasha has been diagnosed with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension or CTEPH. According to the Chest Foundation, "Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a rare and progressive form of pulmonary hypertension (PH). CTEPH is caused by blood clots that don’t dissolve in the lungs. These clots cause scar-like tissue that clogs up or narrows the small blood vessels in the lungs." Symptoms of CTEPH include: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), shortness of breath, palpitations, edema (swelling caused by excess fluid trapped in your body's tissues), fatigue, weakness, swelling of the legs, dizziness, tightness in the chest or belly, fainting, coughing up blood and right-sided heart failure.
The preferred treatment of CTEPH is pulmonary thromboendarterectomy but this is only available if the blood clots are accessible. The second surgery of choice is BPH or balloon pulmonary angioplasty. This treatment typically requires multiple treatments. Another form of treatment is double lung transplant and medications. Without treatment CTEPH is fatal. Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy removes the tissue from the lungs that can be reached. If the tissue at the bottom lobes of the lungs cannot be reached, the BPH with be performed. BPH does not remove the tissue but instead, they "balloon" the narrowed areas in the lungs and the tissues stay in the arteries.
Aleasha anticipates that her surgery will be June or July of 2021 at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH. She will be living in Cleveland Ohio for a month. During this month she will spend 3 weeks in the hospital, one of those weeks ill be in the ICU and two weeks in the step down unit. This will be followed by a week of follow-ups. Due to the increased likely-hood of developing blood clots, Alesha and Sean will most likely be driving to Ohio and from Ohio. The surgery is quite invasive and it will take many months for Aleasha to heal. For this reason, she will have to take off work for 3-6 months. We ask that you please help support Aleasha and her family in this time by donating and sharing this page.
The psalmist wrote: "The heavens tell the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made. Day after day they tell their story; night after night they tell it again. They have no speech or words; they have no voice to be heard. But their message goes through all the world; their words go everywhere on earth" (Ps.19:1-4)
Organizer and beneficiary
Tony and Amber Schweda
Organizer
Mt. Vernon, IL
Aleasha Wilkey
Beneficiary