Help Rima Get a Second Double Lung Transplant

Hi, my name is Emily, I am one of Rima's best friends from college.

I have been lucky to have Rima in my life for the past 16 years!

Rima's courage, strength, tenacity and positive outlook on life, despite adversity, has had an astonishing impact on anyone who has met or followed her journey with Cystic Fibrosis.

She is an inspirational badass!

Sadly, Rima's health has been rapidly declining and she is in need of a second lung transplant. In two weeks, she will be moving to Durham, NC to begin the transplant process yet again. This will not only be emotionally and physically exhausting, but also financially devastating as she will need to move to, and live in North Carolina for an unknown period of time.

I made the decision to start this Go Fund Me with hopes we can alleviate some of the financial stress that will be placed on her and her family. The funds will be used for living expenses, food, transportation, medical bills and follow up expenses. Rima, Her entire community and everyone she has made life brighter for, will be extremely grateful for any contributions.

If you are unable to contribute financially, please consider sharing this page on her behalf.

Rima has shared her story below. If you don't already follow her story, you can keep up with her journey on Instagram @lung_story_short or, by reading her blog at lungstoryshort.com.

Hi, my name is Rima and I was born with Cystic Fibrosis. I had my first double lung transplant in 2017 and I am now in need of a second one, unfortunately.

My body (which can happen at any time) has decided to reject my first double lung transplant. At first, the rejection was DSA AMR (donor-specific antibody-mediated rejection), meaning that my body had begun to recognize my lungs as foreign and started to create antibodies against them. It has since progressed to BOS/CLAD chronic rejection(bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, chronic lung allograft dysfunction).

It all started with being short of breath on September 8th, and it has since progressed precipitously within one month and then even more the following month. I went from being 108% lung function in June and down to 60% on September 10th. Two weeks from there another 10% down and then 5 days after that down even more. I was at 43% by the beginning of October. I then had 16 days in the hospital where they blasted me with all the things. 8 rounds of plasmapheresis. Started Rituxin infusions, Carfilzomab infusions, IVIG infusions, rATG infusions, and Solumedrol. 10 days later dropped down to 27% and then dropped down to 21% 16 days after that! So it's been an insanely quick and concerning decline. Even my transplant team is surprised how fast it has all happened.

I'm having a hard time doing any normal daily tasks, walking short distances, brushing my teeth, making the bed, and getting in and out of a car. I'm on oxygen 24/7 and can do very minimal things without help. It has been exhausting and stressful to say the least.

I will need to relocate to North Carolina to go to Duke for the transplant. Why Duke? They are known as one of the best for transplants and repeat transplants. I didn’t want to go somewhere where they have only done a few second transplants.

I live in Colorado currently and will need to go to Duke for the week-long evaluation, but once I’m there, we've decided it would be best if I stay there because I don’t want to come back to Colorado and then be too sick and not to be able to go back to North Carolina.

We are hoping that I am listed for a double lung transplant at Duke by Christmas and won't be on the wait list for too long. My first wait for new lungs was 8 months; at Duke, we hope for a couple of weeks to a month. So me, and my two caregivers, Chaz, my partner, and Laima, my sister, will be relocating temporarily for transplant. My sister went through the first transplant with me and will be there by my side again. You need all the help you can get when you go through a transplant.

Any GoFundMe money will go directly to transplant expenses. We will need to find a temporary living situation in Durham while we wait for the transplant and three months after I get out of the hospital. The funds would cover living expenses, housing, food, transportation, medical bills, and unexpected expenses that come up during a transplant. Once I get the okay from the doctors three months post-transplant we can all go back to Colorado. I'll need to fly back to Duke every three months for a year for transplant check-ups to ensure I'm healing well.

We went through this over seven and a half years ago, and we know we can do it again. We have even more amazing friends and family in our lives this time around. I have an incredible partner who is going to be beside me the whole time.

We have learned to ask for help when we need it. This has come so out of left field and fast that we need help financially. We appreciate anything you are willing to give. I am grateful from the bottom of my heart for all the help and outpour of love and support. Thank you, thank you.

Love,

Rima