Honoring Jennifer Vaughn: Support Her Family

Jennifer Vaughn passed away the morning of January 1, 2025 at the age of 43. Jen leaves behind her husband, John and her 12 year old son, Jeremy. Jen fought a long battle of both liver cancer and liver disease. She had an appointment set for December 13, 2024 in which she was going to have several tests and reviews done and then go in front of the transplant panel to see if she would qualify for a transplant, as that would save her life. Up until that point her organs were slowly decomposing. She was going on weekly trips to the hospital to have fluid drained that was building up from the failing organs. She was given 3-6 months to live back in July - however, with the transplant she would be able to live a somewhat "normal" life. About a week prior to the appointment with the transplant team that she had been anticipating she fell incredibly ill. She went to the ER to find out that she had a very severe infection. She was placed on a couple antibiotics - which did not seem to help, later to find out - she should have never been on these antibiotics as they could "melt her liver". December 12th she went back to the hospital as she was in terrible pain. They admitted her and told her she need to have emergency surgery for a hernia at 2:30 the morning of 12/13 - she was told she had a slim chance of surviving and advised her to call her loved ones to say their goodbyes. The appointment with the transplant team that she was looking forward to for months that was scheduled for that day also had to be cancelled. From there, it was all downhill. She remained in the hospital as she started to decline. 12/23/24 she was flown by helicopter to a hospital 3 hours away, that was medically equipped to help her better, as well as an in-house transplant team and specialists that were going to work on getting her in line for a transplant. They started doing tests necessary to get her on the transplant lists, however they could only get so many done as she was progressively getting worse. She was very sick. She spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the hospital. The 26th I spoke with the doctor that advised they were still doing the work up for the transplant and hoped to have the tests completed by the end of the week. She sent me a text message about 1am 12/27 telling me she thinks she might go on a ventilator the next day as she is having a really hard time breathing. They had been giving her fluid trying to get her kidneys to function and it all went into her lungs - I got a call an hour later from the nurse saying they couldn't wait and needed to put her on the ventilator now and I was able to tell her I loved her, and she told me "I love you too, hunny bunny". From there it continued downhill. On my way to NC later that morning I was informed by the doctor that she was no longer eligible for the transplant, as she was too sick, all of her organs were failing and she is now living off of the machines. Her blood pressure was extremely low and they had her on 3 strong medicines trying to bring it up. They told me I had to make the decision as to whether or not I wanted her to be resuscitated because at this point there is high probability of her heart stopping. It was getting real. The doctor told me she would try to keep her alive until I arrived - which was about 3 hours from that conversation. I called another best friend of hers, Nikki, who was also on her way down to let her know the urgency so she could update the others. Since she was in ICU - her son who is 12, was not able to come see her. By that evening, myself, Nikki and Tammy (another best friend of hers) were all there in the room with her. She was able to communicate with us by writing. The doctors were shocked that she was still mentally "there", as her body was not - it was shut down. That evening we had the most heartbreaking call. Her husband and son were on speakerphone while Nikki, Tammy and I were trying to communicate for Jen - reading what she was trying to write - We were all in tears. She wrote that she loved Jeremy with all her heart and knew that John will take great care of him. It was one of the hardest, most heart wrenching things to witness. From there, since she was still able to communicate, Jen was told she was no longer eligible for a transplant and aided in making the decision to be taken off of life support. She wanted those tubes OUT. The process started Saturday morning. By the late afternoon she was free from all of the machines. She was talking, joking, making demands, wanting to take pictures - just being herself. She facetimed with John and Jeremy and was blowing kisses and telling them how much she loved them. At that time, we were also able to get special permission to have her son come be with her in ICU the next day. Nikki, Tammy and I were soooo thankful that we got that day with her. She was rapidly dying, however, she was still herself - it was amazing. We were told that this is basically a "window" that is common when people are critically ill and close to their last minutes - apparently the body has a final burst of adrenaline. We were told to not get too excited and enjoy the time we had with her because it will quickly crash.. and it did. Jen spent most of the next day sleeping. Her son and husband arrived and she had some time with them, however, she was quickly declining. She would be moved to hospice later that day. By the time we were at hospice, she wasn't responding at all. There were some moments that she opened her eyes, gave kisses, said a few words - however, it was far and few inbetween. We all sat by her side talking to her and reminding her of how much we loved her. New Years Eve we all stood around her and told her that she had fought and been through enough, she can let go and be with her mom, dad and other family and friends that had passed. We rang in the New Year with her one last time. Jen peacefully passed at 7:15am the next morning.

As stated before, Jen leaves behind her husband, John and her 12 year old son, Jeremy. Although Jen was sick for a long time, she was still fighting and we were all in hopes of the transplant coming through. John is unfortunately in a tough spot financially. I wanted to create this page in hopes of raising some funds to help him with the the cremation (her final wishes) and other costs including the travel, hotel and other miscellaneous things associated. I understand it's a tough time of year, and money is tight for everyone - so just a prayer or a share would be appreciated if you are unable to donate. Anything that would be received above and beyond covering those costs would be set aside for Jeremy. Thanks in advance for your consideration.