Maryellen Wansor’s Funeral Expenses Fund

On Wednesday night 8/23/2023 my mom was at work when she started getting chest pain and left shoulder/arm pain. She was taken by ambulance to the closest hospital (St Josephs North) and underwent testing and was said to have had a heart attack. She had a cardiac cath and during that it was discovered that she had a coronary dissection and the left side of her heart was completely blocked and failing. She was intubated and sedated and taken via helicopter to St Josephs Hospital Main (on MLK). She underwent a few more tests and the cardiac surgeon recommended she undergo emergent CABG (Coronary artery bypass graft) surgery which is open heart surgery. Doing this emergently there are many risks involved. One is bleeding, since she recieved a powerful blood thinner on her initial visit to the ED. I’m happy to say the CABG was successful, but right now the left side of her heart is still 70-80% dependent on the impella device. She is still currently under sedation in the Cardiac Surgical ICU to let her heart recover from the surgery and everything. We are praying and hoping that the left side of her heart will be able to function on its own. We still have a few more days to see what improvement her heart makes. Hemodynamically, she is doing really well. She has recieved several blood products (this is expected with the blood thinner she received on initial ED visit) and ended up needing a thoracentesis this morning (8/25). She also has two chest tubes that are helping drain. If her heart isn’t able to recover without the impella, our next options are an LVAD while waiting for a possible heart transplant in a year from now. My mom has a long road to recovery. She has had no health problems other than this sudden chest pain and coronary dissection. We are all completely distraught and shocked. I just want my mom home. Corbin wants his grandma. We love her so much.

Any funds donated will be given directly to my mom, Maryellen, as she will not be able to work for several months and will also need a caregiver/support for at least a month post-discharge. It will also be used to get comfort items for her while shes in the hospital (once she comes out of sedation). Her hospital stay may be several weeks. We are not sure right now of additional costs with the LVAD and new medications so that is something she will need help with too. My mom loves and does so much for others I’m hoping we all can come together for her during her long road to recovery. She’s the strongest person I know and I know she will be home with us soon ❤️ Thank you so much for taking the time to read and any donation amount is appreciated! Please share!!