Help Makenzee Get to Boston for Heart Surgery

Hello, my name is Marissa and I have started this GoFundMe to help my little sister get to Boston Children’s Hospital for a much-needed operation.

My sister, Makenzee, was recently diagnosed with a very rare heart condition after months of struggling to find a diagnosis. She was diagnosed with a vascular ring and right aortic arch, a congenital anomaly of the aortic arch where it is pressing on her esophagus and trachea. Not only is it causing a strain on her heart, it is also causing difficulty breathing and swallowing food. It’s getting progressively worse.

With this being a rare condition, less than 1% of congenital heart defects, few surgeons specialize in it, making it difficult to get the necessary heart surgery. Boston Children’s Hospital is the main hospital that conducts this surgery and has the greatest success rate with the most minimally invasive approach.

With Makenzee being young and just starting her adult life, she doesn’t have the thousands of dollars it’s going to cost for the travel and minimum 2-week long stay in Boston.

I’m hoping to help get her there, as well as to support her in her recovery from a major heart surgery in which they reroute her aorta. Between the pre-op appointments, surgery, and recovery, she is expected to miss at least a month of work. Anything helps and is greatly appreciated.