Hello all! We are doing this for our amazing friend Michele, who was born with aortic stenosis, mitral stenosis, bicuspid aortic valve, parachute mitral valve, and aortic coarctation (also known as Shone's Complex). This wasn't discovered until she was a few months old. Once repaired as an infant, she was followed by a cardiologist yearly. With a few minor health issues throughout the years, everything was pretty normal. Michele became a mom in 2011 when her son Matthew was born. Then in 2013, her daughter Natalie made their family complete. She had to be followed by doctors/medical more due to both high-risk pregnancies. In 2015, Michele’s cardiologist found a piece of tissue growing outwards, blocking the blood from flowing properly. Subaortic membrane is what they call it, due to it being below her aortic valve.

In November 2015, Michele had open-heart surgery to remove the tissue. They gave her a 10% chance of it growing back. She was then cleared to see her cardiologist every other year. Fast forward almost 10 years. In the fall of 2024, Michele started feeling a little off but thought it was maybe low magnesium or potassium. She made an appointment with a new cardiologist in January of 2025. Her regular cardiologist had relocated, so her new cardiologist discovered that her aortic valve was not cooperating. She was referred to the Mayo hospital. After having a lot of testing and procedures done at the end of April, they concluded that the subaortic membrane was causing issues again, along with her aortic valve failing and narrowing (due to the stenosis). Surgery is on August 27th. They will be replacing Michele’s aortic valve, along with widening it for more blood flow and removing more of the subaortic membrane again. So anything you can donate would be greatly appreciated! Thank you, Julie Fredrickson and Tina Krueger