Dear Ashlee’s Friends and Family,

As many of you may know, Ashlee George was recently diagnosed with an aggressive autoimmune disease called dermatomyositis MDA5. On June 5, Ashlee underwent a double lung transplant and she is now on the road to recovery. Throughout this entire ordeal, Ashlee’s mindset has been positive and she’s kept her fighting spirit. She even has her sense of humor! We’ve just been so proud of her and blown away by her strength and courage.

For the first 20 or so post-op days, Ashlee will remain at Stanford, where she will receive intensive, round-the-clock care. After that, for the next three months (months 2-5 post surgery), Ashlee will move to a studio apartment complex that’s affiliated with the Stanford Medical Center and located directly across the street from the hospital. During those three months, a small number of her friends and family will take turns attending to her recovery 24/7, and administering her very intense regimen of medicines to help Ashlee’s body accept her new lungs. Because Ashlee will be highly immunocompromised, she won’t be able to see many people during that time. After that, for the following three months (months 6-8 post surgery) Ashlee will be well along in her recovery, but she still won’t be able to live alone and will need to make frequent follow-up visits to the Stanford Medical Center.

Many of you have asked how you can help. Given that this will be a very long road to recovery, there are also many expenses that won’t be covered by Ashlee’s insurance, in which we will need family and friends support to help cover. We are asking for $27K at this time, which includes her immediate post care housing and rehabilitation support. We have set up three websites to keep you all up to date on her recovery and her needs: this padlet; Lotsa Helping Hands site and this GoFundMe page.

We are so very grateful to you all for your continuous support and prayers. They really are carrying Ashlee and all of us through this.

Love,

Ashlee’s Care Team