Help my sister recover from TBM

Mollie Dlugasch is a Registered Nurse in need of financial support during her ongoing battle with Tracheobronchomalacia (TBM), a rare airway disorder that causes her airways to collapse and trap air in her trachea and lungs.

Mollie has undergone two surgeries, two intubations, and more than 12 hospitalizations since Fall 2020. She has been to multiple hospitals in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts in search of a cure for her chronic shortness of breath and violent coughing symptoms, which has kept her out of work.

While she recovers from her tracheoplasty surgery and begins pulmonary rehab to restrengthen her body and airways, we are asking for your help as she begins her recovery phase.

100% of your donation will go to Mollie for medical bills, prescriptions, and her post-op pulmonary rehab program.

Mollie’s Story:

Mollie Dlugasch is a 28-year-old Registered Nurse from Denville, New Jersey.

For as long as she can remember, she’s wanted to become a nurse and help others.

Mollie’s mom, who suffers from lupus, required medical assistance from her throughout her childhood, which inspired Mollie to help others through nursing.

Mollie fulfilled her dream when she graduated from Ramapo College in 2015 with her BSN.

Since becoming a Registered Nurse, she has worked in oncology helping cancer patients at Morristown Medical Center, Mt. Sinai, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Valley Hospital.

Mollie was on the frontlines in New York City during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping cancer patients with bone marrow transplants while treating their COVID symptoms.

In November 2020, Mollie contracted COVID-19 and was hospitalized. Following a lengthy hospital stay, she was discharged on Thanksgiving with nothing but a cough.

Unfortunately that cough would never cease and grow in strength every day.

While doctors and pulmonary specialists at some of New York’s best hospitals tried new tests, medications, and therapy, nothing seemed to help and Mollie would always end up back in the hospital.

She quickly burned through her allotted PTO, sick days, and emergency time at work, eventually requiring a leave of absence from work to focus on her health.

As she began seeing more specialists, medical professionals were convinced that her symptoms were related to asthma, which is often the case with TBM patients.

In an effort to open her airways, they prescribed her high-dose steroids, which she took for more than a year. While this helped for a short time, the steroids deteriorated her health and even weakened her airways, worsening her TBM and accelerating her pulmonary decline.

On May 31, 2021, Mollie’s cough became nonstop and she struggled for every breath.

Her boyfriend Chris took her to the emergency room once again, but this time the doctors and nurses were unable to slow her breathing with medication or BiPap pressurized air. Eventually the decision was made to intubate her.

Mollie remained on a ventilator, unconscious, while machines breathed for her. She remained intubated for two days in what perplexed doctors could only describe as a “bad asthma exacerbation.”

Since then, Mollie bounced back-and-forth between outpatient doctors appointments and the emergency room as nothing seemed to help.

With her health on the decline and no effective treatments, another horrible coughing fit landed her back in the hospital and she was intubated again on October 6, 2021.

After Mollie was removed from the ventilator, a CT scan revealed severe TBM collapse in her airways.

Thankfully this discovery led to corrective action.

The closest hospital capable of performing tracheoplasty surgery was in Boston, where she was transferred via ambulance and underwent surgery.

Finally, after more than 30-consecutive days spent in a hospital bed, Mollie could go home.

Although she felt better and was able to briefly return to work for the first time in months, her violent cough slowly returned.

Coughing fits became frequent once again and the worst of them caused her to vomit while she struggled for air. X-rays later revealed that her cough became so violent that it resulted in two fractured ribs.

During an outpatient appointment on January 14, 2022, Mollie’s breathing declined and she was again rushed to the emergency room.

Following tests, the surgeon informed Mollie that the surgery had failed.

The medical staff began discussing the possibilities of a permanent tracheostomy, which would allow her to live while on pressurized air through a tube in her throat, or even the possibility of a lung transplant.

Luckily, another Boston hospital specialized in TBM treatment decided to take her case and try another surgery.

Mollie was transferred back to Boston again, and on February 9, underwent a second surgery to repair her airways.

Since her second surgery, Mollie has been slowly recovering.

Despite additional breathing and coughing issues, which resulted in another hospitalization and transfer to Boston, tests have shown that the second surgery is holding up.

The next step in her recovery is to begin pulmonary rehab to condition her body and airways to regain her strength.

Since Mollie’s initial hospitalization in 2020, she has spent most of this time without any income and her medical bills continue to pile up. In addition to medical expenses, credit card bills have heightened and she’s still paying off student loans.

We are asking for your donation in hopes that Mollie can focus only on her recovery and reduce the stress of existing and pending medical bills.

Funds will be used to cover medical bills from her doctor's appointments, prescriptions, emergency room visits, surgeries, and pulmonary rehab program.

Mollie is one of the kindest, selfless, and most giving people in the world.

Please help support our frontline hero in her time of need.

Sincerely,

Olivia Dlugasch: Mollie’s sister

Chris Orihuela: Mollie’s boyfriend