Help Us Keep Our Angel at Home

Many of our family and friends have followed Angel's unbelievable journey that began exactly one year ago. However, her medical trials actually began when she showed very concerning physical and neurological symptoms in 2004 (26 years old) and was officially diagnosed with Vanishing White Matter (VWM) in 2009. She has defied the odds of this terminal disease while always remaining positive, loving, and a true Angel on Earth. She devoted her time and money to dozens of charities, especially those that support children, animals, and the environment.

On December 20, 2020 Angel was hospitalized with what we thought was a UTI only to be told she had COVID. The devastation and fear we felt is indescribable with the only saving grace being that Angel’s mom, Rozzana, was allowed to stay in the hospital with her. Angel went through so many medical crises and surgeries, each worsening her VWM and creating new illness over the four months at Baylor Dallas. She was discharged after a week in essentially a coma and Rozzana was told to make arrangements for Hospice in a care facility. Instead we brought her home knowing that Angel always fights hard. Her first several weeks home she began to move her eyes, then track people, move her head and she began to talk! She has not yet regained the use of her arms and legs but our Angel Baby is very much with us.

We know that having Angel at home for the past eight months surrounded by her loving family is the best medicine for her. However, we have been unable to hire a nurse or caretaker (outside of family) to help with her 24/7 care needs. Angel spends the majority of time sitting up (because of her feeding tube) in bed which puts her at risk for pressure sores. Rozzana and other family members manually rotate Angel with sponge wedges and pillows every two hours. As you can imagine the physical demands, strain, and exhaustion for both Angel and the caretakers is significant and may not be sustainable.

We recently discovered a medical bed that would allow us to continue to keep Angel at home rather than a long-term nursing facility. Freedom BedTM is a computer-controlled, therapy system, programmable rotation bed that automatically turns the bed-user to different stable sleeping positions without the aid of caregivers. The bed closely mimics the body's natural nocturnal motion by mechanically repositioning it in order to re-establish blood flow to compressed tissue and thus prevent the formation of life-threatening bedsores and other complications of immobility such as pneumonia and other pulmonary problems that require expensive hospitalization to overcome. The added benefit is the improvement in the quality of life for both Angel and her caregivers allowing them to get much needed sleep and reducing the chance of back injuries caused by manual repositioning. Unfortunately, Medicare does not cover it.

We need your support to make this happen. Please consider donating any amount to help keep our Angel healthy and at home with us. We deeply appreciate all of the prayers and love that we have received from around the world and now invite you to share in contributing to purchase this life changing medical device. Thank you in advance for joining us as one of Angel’s angels.