Medical expense Relief for Trish and Andrew

My name is Andrew. My girlfriend Patricia and I were blindsided when her doctor appointment for swelling in her legs and feet turned into an ER visit for something neither of us would have ever expected. After running multiple tests, they found that one of her heart valves pumping blood to/from her heart had failed. They continued running tests where they also blindsided us with another, well, I wouldn’t say complication but a little plot twist. They informed her that she was also roughly 4 weeks pregnant, and with that came complications as her blood pressure had been what they say over the level of care they were capable of providing. So, given that, they made the decision to life flight her to St. Mary’s in Duluth, which also added to the stress of everything else because who can just afford something like that on top of the price of medications and the amazing medical care they had already provided us with. Given that, I borrowed money from family to drive myself down there to be with her.

After the flight, they continued to provide essential medications to try and get her blood pressure back under control or at least what they consider manageable. They ran more tests and provided another enhanced ultrasound, more or less to get a better look at how her heart was doing or to possibly further diagnose the cause of the heart valve failure. They also took another look at the baby to make sure things were good there. It took a little while for the ultrasound to come back, but they then gave us more shocking news: our baby had aged from what the falls told us was about 7 weeks all the way up to 22 weeks and 6 days. They continued to monitor and treat her high blood pressure throughout the night and into the next day when they were going to do an enhanced ultrasound.

When the nurses came to do the ultrasound, they couldn’t get anything, so they asked for help from another nurse to try and locate the heartbeat. Meanwhile, one of the heart specialists came in and was explaining what was happening with her heart and how it could or was affecting the pregnancy. The heart specialist then met with the nurses briefly and came back to inform us that because of all the mitigating factors that had been happening the last couple of days, they were sorry to inform us that they were not able to locate the baby’s heartbeat, and so, in all, the baby had passed. They gave us time to ourselves to grieve and get the support from each other that is needed in a time like this but also mentioned that we had to make a decision to go in for a c-section or to vaginally deliver.

So here I sit, 6 hours after receiving the news, trying to take in and understand everything that has happened over the past few days. My mind goes blank, and the next thought that comes into my mind is how are we ever going to afford all of this? There’s no way her insurance is going to cover all of it! And so I go into worry mode of how can I help her? I’ll be able to help with some of it, but what’s going to happen when bill collectors come to collect? With that and my mind racing, trying to take this all in and so confused, I ask family, friends, associates, or even complete strangers, even if it’s only 1 cent, it will be accepted and appreciated from the bottom of our hearts.

Sincerely, Andrew