Help Tiffany Gutierrez

Tiffany is a 30 year old who works as a CNA at Rush Copley Medical center in Aurora IL. The last day she worked was November 10th 2017 when she fell ill with a sore throat. She went to urgent care and was told it was from a virus and was sent home. A few days later Tiffany ended up in the ER because she was unable to eat or drink. What doctors thought was just a sore throat ended up being something way more serious and because she was unable to eat or drink her diabetes was not under control. A few days before thanksgiving she was released from the hospital on oral antibiotics but she was still having difficulties swallowing and was unable to take her medication properly. The Saturday after thanksgiving she was back in the ER and was rushed to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago for emergency surgery to remove fluids from her lung and to get rid of some dead lung tissue. Tiffany was septic and not doing well. She ended up spending 3 months in the ICU at Rush. She had multiple surgeries, was intubated and extubated too many times to count, was septic multiple times despite copious amounts of IV antibiotics, had her vocal cords damaged due to an intubation and is unable to eat due to aspiration from her vocal cords not closing properly, had nerve damage due to a procedure, coded 3 separate times in the operating room, had issues with her kidneys, had a wound vac to try and close her surgical wounds that were not healing among multiple other complications. During this time she missed Christmas, New Years, her boyfriends 30th birthday, her own 30th birthday, her dogs 3rd birthday and Valentine’s Day. Finally things started looking up and doctors thought Tiffany was stable enough to be transferred to a rehab center. Tiffany was sent back to Rush Copley for rehab to be closer to friends and family. Through a series of unfortunate events she faced yet more complications and ended up back in the ICU ventilated and getting another emergency surgery to repair a hole in her stomach due to a feeding tube being pulled out. During his time Tiffany lost her eyesight and is currently unable to see. Her body was weak and doctors thought the best thing for her would be to get a tracheostomy so that she did not have to work as hard to breathe and would be able to participate in therapy to try and regain her strength. Much to Tiffany’s dismay, she went ahead with the procedure in order to get better. A week later she was transferred to RML rehab facility in Hinsdale IL. Tiffany was yet again facing complications and ended up back in the ER this time at Hinsdale hospital. She underwent yet another emergency surgery and is currently in the ICU ventilated and on medications to support her blood pressure. Her boyfriend Bill has been by her side this entire time, only leaving the hospital for short periods of time to shower and get clean clothes and occasionally spending a few hours with their dog Bobby. It is our hope that we can get her transferred to Northwestern in order to get a new set of doctors to look at her and hopefully get her better. Bill was asked if he had thought about making Tiffany a DNR but she is ready to keep fighting and refuses to give up. That’s the thing about Tiffany, she is the strongest person I know and the best friend I have ever had. She is loyal, and has the biggest heart out of anyone I know. She would do anything for those that she loves which is why I feel the need to do everything I can to help her because I know she would do the same for me. As you can imagine, hospital bills are racking up and because Bill has been by her side he has been unable to work. Tiffany’s insurance will run out in may. Please help donate to my bestie so that she can worry about getting better instead of worrying about her medical bills, any small amount helps!