Help support my sister in law Mackenzie’s open heart surgery

Hi, my name is Martha and I’m trying to raise funds for my sister in law’s medical bills. She needs to have a second open heart surgery. She’s married to my brother and has 3 beautiful kids.

She had open heart surgery in 2011, then had 2 balloon surgeries in 2018, but those were unsuccessful. That’s why this surgery is the only option, once they are in they will make sure there are no old clots, if there are they will remove them right away, too.

The procedure of open heart surgery is very high risk. They crack your sternum/ribs and you are completely hooked up to a machine that will keep you alive. The surgery is anywhere from 9-12 hours long, during that time they will cool her body temperature way down so there is no blood flow. They will do as much work in 15 minutes then they will heat her body back up for 15 minutes, then cool her down again and so on for the time of the surgery

So she will have to go to Chicago and do some other test that they need. The test will be a right heart cath, and a breathing test, and a lung function test. For the first trip she will be there 3 days. After the testing they will meet again and go over all of the pressures in her heart and lungs. Then they will discuss repeat open heart surgery, They are aiming for August. Her and my brother will be out in Chicago for 10-14 days if everything goes as planned. She will be able to stay in the hospital, but for the days she is in the ICU, my brother will have to find a hotel near the hospital. Once she is in her own room then he can stay with her in the hospital. She will be out of work for 6-12 weeks. And that’s only if everything goes as planned! They will need 2 round tickets, lodging, food, Uber while out in Chicago, and help to replace wages for being out of work for the both of them.

We understand that everyone has their own things to pay for and some may have nothing to help with. ANYTHING will help. ANYTHING. Even if you just share this it can help to reach more people. This entire situation is already very stressful for them. Please help us take some of that load off of them. Thank you so much.