As some of you know, my mom, Angelique, was admitted to Garnet on Friday, September 12th, 2025, for respiratory distress. They, at that time, came to a conclusion that she had double pneumonia. They started her on antibiotics and brought her upstairs to a room. She stayed on antibiotics for 2 or 3 days before they said no, it’s the lupus, not pneumonia, and just threw her on high-dose steroids only. Over the course of 3 days, mom just got worse; her breathing was no better, and she ended up going from being on an oxymask to then being on a high-flow nasal cannula. Garnet eventually decided that she needed a higher level of care and also to have rheumatology on board given the complexity of her history and decided on a transfer to Westchester. She got down to WMC on 9/18 at 0300. Yesterday, 9/19, they did a bronchoscopy to get an inside look at her lungs to try and help figure out a little more what was going on. After the procedure, we were told that she is currently on a ventilator because she wasn’t breathing well enough without being on it at the time. They're trying to give her lungs some time to rest and recover, so it could be a few days before she’s weaned off and woken up. Now, before they brought her in, they told us that in addition to her breathing and her difficulties coming out of anesthesia, they may keep her on the ventilator and bring her to the ICU. While right now she’s holding stable, they do have her heavily sedated to allow for the lungs to truly rest and let the ventilator do the work.

Now, something a lot of you know is that my mom has been hit twice with non-small cell lung cancer, and the first time had to have the lower lobe of her left lung removed. On top of that, she has Lupus SLE, which also attacks the entire body, and many other autoimmune disorders. The cancer and lupus alone cause things to be a lot harder for her, especially with only having essentially a lung and a half.

My dad has been staying down there at a hotel since she got to Westchester, and I’ve been commuting back and forth since I’m her healthcare proxy (the one who makes medical decisions for her when she is not able to make them herself). While we aren’t the type of people to ask for assistance whatsoever, we understand that sometimes it’s okay to ask for help, especially when unexpected things happen. We already know that my mom is going to need at-home care, at least in the beginning.

We humbly ask for any assistance that could be offered to help with hotel stays, gas going back and forth, and anything insurance does not cover.

Anything will help, even a share if you’re not able to financially contribute.

Thank you ever so greatly. ❤️