Hope for Amberle
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This page for my daughter Amberle. She has always been my hero and I know she inspires many others. Amberle has been battling various auto-immune problems since junior high. She is now 23 years old, and for the second time this year is fighting for her life. Your words of encouragement, letters and prayers are all very important to us. Amberle is usually hospitalized at UCSF, which is two hours from home. She spent over a month at UCSF in intensive care in January, and now is back again. Your help will enable mer and her fiance Kevin to be able to make more frequent trips to the hospital, and stay in hotels as needed, while still keeping up with regular life expenses. We are not ones to ask for help, but I have come to acknowledge I can't do this alone anymore, and the need to be able to spend as much time with her as possible is worth asking for help.
In January, she was hit with pneumonia. This quickly moved into Septic Shock and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. She was immediately put on a ventilator, which was not able to give her lungs the support she needed. Her oxygen levels were hitting critical levels, and her blood pressure was dangerously low. She was also in renal failure. The thorasic team from UCSF came to her ICU room at her local hospital and operated. They put her on ECMO, a machine which bypasses the heart and lungs to filter and oxygenate the blood. She was transported back to UCSF, where she spent many days on ECMO, before being back to ventilator only support, and eventually a Tracheostomy (Putting a Breathing Tube Through a Small Hole in the Throat). She was in the hospital for 63 days before finally coming home.
This is what ECMO looks like, it does the work of the heart and lungs. We do not want to see her on this again!
Since then, she has been battling many health issues, the most frustrating being a flare of her Ulcerative Colitis. She has dropped a huge amount of wait, and is very frail. Since coming home, she has returned to the hospital several times, for days or even weeks. Now, Amberle is at UCSF again in very critical condition. She went to the hospital a week ago with GI issues and an intestinal blockage. On June 22nd, her lungs rapidly declined and she was placed on a ventilator. She is battling sepsis, is on a ventilator and experiencing very low blood pressure. She is also experiencing tachycardia (rapid heart rate). She is very, very sick... Especially following such a long hospitalization earlier this year.
In January, she was hit with pneumonia. This quickly moved into Septic Shock and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. She was immediately put on a ventilator, which was not able to give her lungs the support she needed. Her oxygen levels were hitting critical levels, and her blood pressure was dangerously low. She was also in renal failure. The thorasic team from UCSF came to her ICU room at her local hospital and operated. They put her on ECMO, a machine which bypasses the heart and lungs to filter and oxygenate the blood. She was transported back to UCSF, where she spent many days on ECMO, before being back to ventilator only support, and eventually a Tracheostomy (Putting a Breathing Tube Through a Small Hole in the Throat). She was in the hospital for 63 days before finally coming home.
This is what ECMO looks like, it does the work of the heart and lungs. We do not want to see her on this again!
Since then, she has been battling many health issues, the most frustrating being a flare of her Ulcerative Colitis. She has dropped a huge amount of wait, and is very frail. Since coming home, she has returned to the hospital several times, for days or even weeks. Now, Amberle is at UCSF again in very critical condition. She went to the hospital a week ago with GI issues and an intestinal blockage. On June 22nd, her lungs rapidly declined and she was placed on a ventilator. She is battling sepsis, is on a ventilator and experiencing very low blood pressure. She is also experiencing tachycardia (rapid heart rate). She is very, very sick... Especially following such a long hospitalization earlier this year.
Organizer
Michelle Young
Organizer
Turlock, CA
