A Mother's Heart
Donation protected
Meet Lucy Storey...One of the greatest Mothers in the world!
We know what you're thinking. That woman does not look sick. In fact, she looks pretty darn good. We've all thought it, some of us have said it, but the truth of it is our Mother is sick, very sick! Her heart is a ticking time bomb, and we're preparing for the worst.
If you'll allow us to get science-y for a moment, Mom has Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) and heart failure. Her ejection fraction is hanging at 21-25% (with her worst being 10%).
What does that even mean?
It means that the part of Mom's heart that is responsible for pumping blood (read: oxygen) to the rest of her body has malfunctioned and stretched out. The problem with this is that a stretched out heart chamber cannot fill or pump blood (oxygen!) efficiently enough to fuel her body. An ejection fraction is a way to measure how well the heart is pumping and our mother's heart is pumping at 1/3 of what a normal heart would. This is a problem! Her heart isn't pumping enough blood (oxygen!) to fuel itself, let alone the rest of her body.
So how do you fix this?
Depends on the person and the heart. Medications, diet, exercise, surgeries. In Mom's case, these things have kept her heart from getting worse, but have not helped her get better.
This is why we are here. Our Mother needs a heart transplant.
We know. That sounds scary. It is. The surgery, the risk factors, the potential for rejection; these are all scary things. But what is even scarier for us is what will happen if Mom doesn't get the surgery. And what's standing in our way right now is the cost.
These are the hurdles that we face:
1. Dental expenses. Before Mom can be placed on the transplant list she has to pass a complete physical ensuring that no other part of her body is going to cause problems during the transplant process. Lucy needs quite a bit of dental work before getting signed off, and her insurance will not cover this.
2. Lucy and her family's transportation costs to and from Stanford for evaluation, surgery, and visits after transplant.
3. Housing, food, and living expenses. Mom will have to move to Palo Alto, CA and stay within 20 minutes of Stanford for 3 months after her transplant.
4. Care. Lucy will need 24/7 assistance and monitoring in the 3 month period after her transplant. Whether that entails hiring nurses or PCAs or having family members and friends alternate weeks, it will be very costly.
So these are our road blocks, and we're asking for your help. Whether it's a financial contribution, your prayers, or your positive thoughts, we need your help.
Would you please help us get our Mother a new heart?
Sincerely,
The Storey Family
Organizer
Jenae Hennessey
Organizer
