Our friend Madds, a middle school teacher at Terry Middle School, recently experienced an unfortunate medical event. She woke up on a Thursday morning, worried she may be having a heart attack due to severe chest pain. After making a few phone calls (with no explanation), she decided to go to work and speak to the school nurse. The nurse recommended a doctor's visit; however, Madds could not find someone to cover her classes and ended up teaching the entire school day. Thankfully a close friend was concerned about her bizarre symptoms and took her to an emergency clinic.

After hours of waiting, the x-ray results revealed that her left lung had collapsed sometime earlier that day. What had started out as chest pain quickly turned into an emergency surgery and extended hospital stay. On her first night in the hospital, she underwent a procedure to get a chest tube placed that would help her lung re-inflate. After a few days of monitoring her lung capacity, she had to undergo a second procedure to help her lung reach its total capacity and ensure that it would have minimal chances of collapsing again.

She then spent the following week recovering at home, away from work. Madds returned to work two weeks after the original event with medical bills looming.

If you know Madds, you know she cares about her students. She spent the last days in the hospital connecting with students and keeping up with lesson plans. We hope this page will help raise a portion of her substantial medical expenses and give back a fraction of what she's given to those around her.