Help Sandra Overcome Health Challenges

I am the brother-in-law to Sandra Cespedes. Her husband and family have been through so much. She is Colombian and she entered the United States legally. She has worked full-time and she and her husband have made a good life in Iowa. They both work very hard to pursue the American dream.

Sandra was in perfect health and preparing for the physical exam to become a firefighter. The exam was 20 days away. She was running, lifting weights, and physically ready.

One night, she felt a heavy pressure on her chest and her husband took her to get it checked out. They found out she was having a heart attack. She was rushed to the local hospital and a double bypass surgery was performed.

During her recovery in the hospital, it was found that Sandra has a rare blood clotting disorder. Her lungs started to bleed and the two grafts for her bypass had clotted over. Doctors worked to regulate the clotting and bleeding and needed to put Sandra in a coma and on life support.

After days in that condition, the medical team decided it would be best to airlift her to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

She has now been there for 5 days and is still in the coma and on life support. The team of excellent medical staff are trying to find the magical balance to thin her blood to manage the clotting while battling with another problem of her developing pneumonia.

The end goal is to get Sandra stable enough to perform a repair on the first bypass and now replace a heart valve damaged from the original attack.

As you can tell, this has been a long, painful experience for all. She has been in the hospital for over three weeks now, most of the time in a chemically induced coma and on life support.

Sandra and her husband have done everything by the book to be in this country legally and to work hard for everything they have. But, even with their employer-provided health insurance, the debt they are incurring is debilitating.

These people do not deserve what they are going through. They work so hard and have no problem doing their part to make this world a better place.

I am simply asking for any help you can provide. They are in for a long road of surgeries and recovery. They are the type of people that would rather give than receive.

Please help!