Anyone who knows Audrey Kim (formerly Kimsey) knows that she’s a rule-follower at heart. WAIT…but her actual heart? Not so much of a rule-follower. At the age of only 9 years, that darn thing went rogue and left her in worse shape than the Tin Man. She was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy and received her first heart transplant less than a month later.

Sadly, her body spent the next two years being ticked off and rejecting that heart, leading to a terrifying cardiac arrest event, and receiving a second heart transplant at just 11 years. In the 24 years since then, Audrey has overcome the odds of many heart transplant recipients simply by leading a healthy and relatively normal life (aren’t they all relatively normal?) for so long without the need for retransplant. Audrey has served numerous families as a highly skilled nanny and infant sleep trainer, played vital volunteer roles in her community, and continues to place herself in the position to rescue far too many domesticated and exotic pets.

Unfortunately, in the past couple of years she has been diagnosed with transplant-related coronary artery disease (and she hasn’t even been eating bacon like the rest of us!) and tricuspid valve damage, partly due to countless invasive procedures to monitor her status. She is now in need of a THIRD heart transplant and will also be listed for a kidney transplant, due to correlated exertion that has been placed on her kidneys for so long.

THE GOOD NEWS: Audrey is listed for these transplants with Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. They are experts in the field of transplants and have been incredibly supportive and helpful in the journey to relisting.

THE ROUGH NEWS: Audrey will not get to pass ‘Go,’ will not receive $200, and will not have a chance to play the slots in Vegas on her way to L.A. when she receives the fateful call to get the heck to California. Within 24 hours of the call, she and and her husband will be required to drop their lives and leave their home and jobs in Colorado Springs for up to a year.

This will create a heavy financial burden for both living expenses that will continue at home in addition to those they’ll incur in one of the costliest markets in our country, as well as out-of-network medications and treatments. (Don’t worry, they won’t spend your donations on lip injections or implants of any other kind than a heart and kidney…)

Your contribution of any amount is incredibly valuable to this family and appreciated beyond belief!