Help Braedyn on her Road to Recovery

At the beginning of June, unexpectedly, my little sister Braedyn got extremely sick and was hospitalized for 10 days. She started at Unity Point Health but her condition started to deteriorate which required a higher level of care. Braedyn was transferred to Omaha by ambulance.

After spending 4 days in the ICU in Omaha and having multiple tests done including EKG’s, blood draws, a spinal tap, and 2 TEE’s, there was a bit of clarity on her situation. Blood cultures came back showing an aggressive blood stream infection. The infection did end up reaching her heart causing a tear in her mitral valve which lead to extremely high heart rates ranging from 130-170 even while just laying down. The final and official diagnosis was Endocarditis of the mitral valve. Braedyn was told that she would need open heart surgery to fix her situation.

On June 15th, my sister was released from the hospital with a midline and received required IV antibiotics for 28 days to clear the infection before she could have surgery. During this time, my mom had to take a leave of absence from work to take care of Braedyn. My sister has also not been able to work and has had to take a semester off of school which has caused her to fall behind.

My sister is young, kind, and such a hard worker. She was really looking forward to doing all of her favorite things this summer, which include traveling and going to concerts. That’s all been halted due to this very unexpected illness.

On August 11th, Braedyn finally had open heart surgery and started her long road of recovery. Any donations to Braedyn’s medical expenses are appreciated.

Thank you!

Kendall Downs