Stent Placement for my Grandmother

Hello, My name is Fiona and I created this fundraising event on behalf of my grandmother Annette John-Charles Stedman. My grandmother is a 76-year-old woman who was born and raised on the beautiful island of Dominica. As a child, she suffered from rheumatic fever; an inflammatory disease that affects various parts of the body but in this case mainly affected her heart, at that time there was no cure and she was put on medication for the symptoms. The symptoms became severely worse throughout the years and she had constant fainting spells as a result. In 2005 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados, she underwent a mitral valve replacement for severe rheumatic mitral stenosis; this condition causes scarring of the mitral valve and reduces the blood flow into the left ventricle of the heart. This first surgery has left her with a 10" scar down her chest and a lifelong tie to prescribed medications.

After years of doing well post-surgery, she began suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath. In 2020 she had a positive treadmill stress test as a result a cardiac catheterization and coronary angiography were performed, these tests revealed a single vessel coronary artery disease with 80% tubular stenosis in her mid circumflex artery (the walls of the small arteries in the heart are blocked almost to the point of being closed, this reduces the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart).

After finding out this news my Grandmother has been living with this condition and it is getting worse and negatively affecting her life day by day. My grandmother has tried her best to be very active and healthy despite her condition but now it has become much harder for her to do simple things like going up and down stairs and even exercising to try to ensure that she does not gain any extra fat around her heart. She has many plants and enjoys tending to them but is limited in what she can do as gardening tasks have also become something that causes her physical pain.

Her cardiologist has informed us that she would need to have a percutaneous coronary intervention with the placement of a drug-eluting stent. The stent is a small structure that opens up and keeps the blood vessels open. Unfortunately, there are no cardiology treatments in Dominica so she will have to fly to Barbados and stay there for the procedure. This fundraiser is not only to help support the costs of the surgery but also with the living and aftercare expenses that will be incurred in Barbados. It is recommended that she stays there after surgery for observations and post-opp appointments to ensure the procedure was successful.

If you can donate, thank you in advance. Prayers are also very much welcomed and needed.