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Natasha's Fight of her Life

Many of you don’t know that my sister, Natasha Caldwell, has been fighting for her life. She has been in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital since July 7, 2017. Most recently the team of doctors at St. Joseph’s deemed it medically necessary for her to be life-flighted to Boston as they are unable to do anything more for her at this time. They have had her in their care for 2 weeks and nothing has improved. She is currently on life-support and heavily sedated.

So what has led me to this site? Let me go back a few weeks ago. My brother-in-law (Barry, Natasha’s husband) had routine hernia surgery, which has left him out of work since then for recovery. The next day, my sister was vomiting quite consistently; she had diarrhea as well as severe abdominal and back pain. My mother left work and immediately brought her to the Emergency Room, even though my sister thought she should just go to Walk-in-Care.

After being admitted to the ER, they immediately moved her upstairs to the ICU. After some tests results, and a CT scan they diagnosed her with necrotizing pancreatitis. Pancreatitis in itself doesn’t sound so life-threatening and for 95% of people it’s not. Typically these cases have a few days in the hospital with IV antibiotics and you’re on your way. However, my sister is in the remaining 5 % of people and according to her team of doctors, they said they’ve never seen a case so severe as hers.

The doctors have said that potential recovery from this will be a very long process as they described her pancreas as “pea soup.” Because of the severity of this infection, she will be out of work for months. I am here asking for any financial support you can give. The support you give will aid in daycare expenses for her son as we are trying to maintain normalcy in his schedule as much as can be expected during this very difficult time. Your support will also assist in several different medical costs associated with her recovery. As her husband has been out of work from surgery, the support will also go towards living expenses as her sick time has already been depleted.

Finally, here is a quote from Dr. William Brugge, gastroenterologist specialist: “Natasha has extensive and severe inflammation of the pancreas, worse in the body and tail.  There is evidence of necrosis (dead tissue) in the body and tail of the pancreas, indicating the severe nature of the pancreatitis.  She has a number of complications of the pancreatitis, including fluid leakage around the pancreas, bowel, stomach, and spleen.  The most important complication is the leakage of fluid into the cavity around the lungs. The accumulation of fluid compresses her lungs and reduces her oxygen delivery to the tissues.  The high white blood cell count and fever may indicate an infection in the fluid around the lungs and bowel.”

 
If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a message and I will get back with you. I will be maintaining and updating as much as I can. Please keep my sister and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Again, thank you for any financial support you can give to my sister at this time.
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Donations 

  • helena bosse
    • $25 
    • 7 yrs
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Organizer

Monica Sabine
Organizer
Hudson, ME

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