Libby DeMarco Eck's medical expenses

Libby Eck is the commissary manager for Queen City Fresh Foods and leads our team on food production, packaging, order-picking and distribution. Libby handles many of the company duties on a daily basis including scheduling, interviewing, hiring, product-ordering, inventory, and machine

operations. Libby is essential in making sure production is completed on time for scheduled deliveries. Additionally, she also ensures enough product is ordered to complete all customer orders while handling the daily ins and out of employee interactions and needs.

To say Libby is an important part of our team is an understatement. On December 27th of 2023, Libby unexpectedly was taken to the ER at Mercy Hospital. She

was incoherent, unaware and barely responsive. It was ascertained that she was in respiratory distress and was transferred into the ICU. She was put on a ventilator right away as a life-saving measure. By the next day, it was determined that her lungs were not clearing CO2 out of her lungs and that it was leaking into her bloodstream. Libby was then brought to the CVICU where she was placed on an ECMO machine to draw blood out of her body, filter it through the machine and return oxygenated blood back into the body, giving her lungs a rest to recover. She was not given a good prognosis by her doctors as recovery would be extremely slow. Doctors and staff advised that everything was working as it should and at that her body just needed to fight through. She was on the machine for nearly 3 weeks and under heavy sedation through

this entire process. Throughout this procedure, the doctors tried lowering the ECMO machine and upping the use of the ventilator to attempt weaning her off the ECMO machine, in other words, see if her lungs can function on their own. After several attempts at this, it finally worked. She was on the ventilator a couple more days until the doctors were sure her lungs were working. Recovery from this was just in time as she was just around the corner from having a tracheostomy done. Crisis averted! The doctors were able to take her off the ventilator and she was transferred back to the ICU for rehabilitation at Kenmore Mercy Hospital. She was sent

home and within 24 hours she stumbled and fractured her right foot and was sent to Autumnview for further rehabilitation. She has a long road ahead for recovery.

Libby is currently the head of her household, financially supporting her children and grandchild. She is the main source of income in her household and without working over the last couple of months, bills are starting to pile up. Medical bills will be coming and finances will be tight. Libby will be applying for disability while she recovers but help would be appreciated greatly! Any contributions received in this Go Fund me will be used towards medical bills, household bills and keeping food in the fridge during this difficult time.

Thank you in advance forconsidering Libby and her family.