Hope for our Heart Warrior

Hello, our names are Ashley Gratz and Deneil Loftus. We are respiratory therapists that have worked alongside Hope Carew and the 3 of us have been the best of friends for almost 7 years now. Our friendship began when we were all pregnant and working together and then blossomed as we all entered motherhood together. It’s not only the 3 of us that love and adore each other but our kiddos also love spending time together!

Let’s meet Hope Carew! Hope is 34 years young, a wife to Sean Carew and mother to two beautiful little girls. Madaline is 6 years old and in first grade and Adyson is 4 years old and in preschool. Both girls are her world and she would do anything for them. She is a lover of all music genres from the Beatles and Eminem to country music. Her favorite holiday is April fools day (she loves her jokes and pranks)!! She enjoys working out, having an active lifestyle and loves taking the girls on nature walks and being outdoors. The whole family are huge animal lovers and they take frequent trips to zoos both locally and when traveling.

Let’s travel through Hope’s heart journey that got her to this point. On Sunday February 20th she was working her 12 hour shift when all of the sudden she felt very ill. She knew something wasn’t right so she went to find an ICU nurse when suddenly she collapsed. She was rushed to the Emergency Room where she arrested multiple times and then immediately transported to the Cath Lab where they had found her to have an extremely life threatening Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection. At this point she was on full life support and was then started on ECMO, which is similar to heart lung bypass. Hope went from a very healthy 34 year old to being in extreme critical condition in a matter of minutes. In the days following they were unsuccessful trying to get the left side of her heart to function because it was so severely damaged so she was placed on the heart transplant list and by the grace of God was blessed with a heart a day and a half later! She underwent a heart transplant on Friday February 25th and is now on her very long road to recovery. Through all of this she still hasn’t lost her spunk, smile and her humor. Our Hope is a heart warrior, the strongest person we know and she is truly a miracle!!

Hope and Sean’s main focus should be on her care and recovery but unfortunately all of this comes at an astronomical cost. A heart transplant alone on average can cost an upwards of 1.3 million dollars and that is not factoring in the hospital stay, tests and procedures. Sean will need to be by Hope’s side for months as she goes through her hospitalization and also care for their two beautiful girls at the same time. She will be needing therapy and constant in home care once she gets out of the hospital not to mention hefty monthly medication expenses and anti-rejection medications. These drastic medical expenses that could potentially result in the millions have begun looming over this wonderful family as well as worrying about paying for their mortgage and other monthly expenses.

This sweet family needs some financial assistance. If you are able and feel the need to help, every

donation, prayer and positive thought makes a huge impact during this time and is deeply appreciated by us all!