Make Ms. Asay Sing Again

Mandie Asay, a beloved music teacher at Big Horn County School District, was admitted to the hospital on September 4th with high blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. Early the next morning, Mandie was unresponsive, intubated, and transferred to the ICU at the Billings Clinic in Billings, Montana. Mandie remained intubated, sedated, and on a paralytic to keep her medically paralyzed for two weeks. On September 18th, her doctors decided to perform a Tracheostomy to surgically place the ventilator in her neck. Mandie improved and was even moved to the rehabilitation hospital. However, on September 25th during routine physical therapy, Mandie had a bilateral pulmonary embolism and collapsed. Thankfully, Mandie’s medical team acted quickly to save her life. She was taken back to the ICU, intubated, sedated, and medically paralyzed again. Mandie is alive and improving slowly, but her journey to full recovery is going to be very long and unpredictable.

At this time, there are no answers as to how long Mandie will be out of work, how much her health insurance will or will not cover, or what kind of support she will need in the future. Mandie has never been the kind of person to ask for help or complain about life’s hardships, even though she has struggled with CRPS and has been in chronic pain most of her adult life. But right now, she needs the help that she can’t ask for. The cost of her medical care, the work she is missing, the travel back and forth for family to be with her, and more costs will continue to pile up. The goal is to build up a savings that she will have to lean on as her financial situation becomes clearer.

She is Mandie to all, Ms. Asay to many, and Mimi to the people she loves the most. Mandie is a wonderful daughter, sister, aunt, friend, cousin, niece, and teacher. Music is Mandie’s life. She has been a music teacher with Big Horn County for over 20 years. Known for her fun concerts and loving personality, Ms. Asay is always a fan favorite teacher. Just a few weeks ago, one of her former students commented on a Facebook post, “You were the first one that believed in me and I have remembered that all along this crazy journey. You were one of the reasons I’ve chased so hard so thank you so much.” You can hardly go anywhere with Mandie without hearing “Ms. Asay!” from a handful of students or a colleague. On a recent trip to Arizona where she knows only her older brother, she was recognized by someone from Wyoming at an event. Mandie’s contagious personality, loving demeanor, endless patience, and her kindness draw people to her wherever she goes. A gathering isn’t complete until she sings for the group, and the family harmony will never be the same until she can join us again singing the melody. Her progressive health condition has slowly eroded her ability to play piano as much as she would like, but her voice has remained a symbol of who Mandie is: strong and beautiful. When Mandie’s doctors told her they decided to place the ventilator in her neck, the first thing she did was sign to her dad, “Can I sing?”

Daily life without Ms. Asay’s voice filling the school halls is no doubt less joyful and less full of life. Someday, Mandie will come out of this, and her voice will be heard again. If you can donate, even a little bit, to the “Make Ms. Asay Sing Again” fund, please do. Mandie, and her family, will be forever grateful. The proceeds of this fundraiser will go directly to Mandie’s account.