Two years ago, my husband, Robert Pickens,  was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, after being sick for more than a year. His condition is due to a genetic valve defect, resulting in a Mitral Valve Prolapse. Because of his stroke at age 30, he was unable to obtain health insurance, until pre-existing conditions no longer became an issue. When he was finally able to obtain insurance through Affordable Care Act, he was already incredibly sick, as his heart condition had gone undiagnosed for more than 40 years. 

As a result of a very leaky valve for so many years, Robert's left aorta holds 430mL of liquid, and the other three chambers dangle off of the enlarged chamber. Open heart surgery two years ago fixed the leaky valve, but the shape of his heart was unable to be fixed. After the surgery, he tolerated exercise for several months, and things seemed to be getting better. 

However, by the end of 2015, Rob needed a pacemaker because his blood pressure and heart rate was so low that he was passing out frequently. After the pacemaker was installed, he began slowly retaining fluid. Robert was hospitalized in April of this year in order to attempt to pull off as much fluid as possible. For a number of months, his fluid retention was minimal, and he waited for more procedures to improve circulation. Because his left ventricle is so much smaller, his heart has trouble pumping blood to his extremeties. 

This fall, Rob began retaining fluid again, and his heart is unable to pump well enough for the fluid to come off his body. His legs have swollen to the point he can hardly walk, and the fluid in his lungs makes it very hard to breathe. In the last two years, he has tried to keep working and going to school, but his attendance has been more sporadic than hoped. In this time, we have depleted our savings in order to pay the family's bills and catch up on extensive medical bills. 

Three weeks ago, Robert retuned to the hospital, with an extreme amount of fluid retention. The doctors have done everything they can do reduce this problem, but his heart is just not strong enough to keep up. The only way he can survive is to recieve a heart transplant. As his fluid has kept building up, his sodium levels drop to dangerous levels, which causes neurological problems. Because of this, as well as the lack of oxygen to his brain,  he is unable to continue working the eBay business, as he cannot even focus on the computer screen. 

Currently, he am hospitalized, and we are not sure when he will be able to go home. Robert is unable to leave because his fluid retention, which has kept his sodium levels dangerously low. Our best hope is to get on a transplant list. Without a heart transplant, he will not survive. Throughout the last two years, our medical bills have been piling up, and our savings have dwindled. At this point,  we are unable to pay even the smallest bills and he is unable to work. I work in a restaurant, but have been unable to work as much as we need, without Rob at home to help with the children. The cost of a babysitter nearly meets my nightly tips. I am unable to keep paying for sitters, and the more that I have to work, the less time I am able to spend with Rob.  I really want the children to be able to spend as much time with their father right now, while we wait to see if he will be able to get a heart transplant. I cannot keep working odd hours, paying for childcare, and have time for the children and I to see Robert daily. 

Please help, if you can. If we can raise enough money to support our family in this crucial time, me and children will be able to spend more time with Robert, and less time shuffling between restaurant work and babysitters. We would really like to be able to spend as much time with Robert right now, and we cannot come to the hospital as much while I maintains a full time schedule at the restaurant. 

I have been offered a great career opportunity in Charlotte, NC, and I have been trying to raise money for the family to move. However, I would like to be able to stay here with Robert until he is able to have this heart transplant. We hope that he will be able to have the transplant in Houston, where his mother and family can help to care for him during the recovery peroid. I hope that I can spend the next month getting all of our stuff ready to move, while enabling the children to spend as much time with their father as possible. We hope to move to Charlotte after the transplant, while he recovers with his mother and family in Houston. I hope that he will be able to join us in Charlotte in the months following the transplant. 

I have so much to do to get us ready to leave Lockhart, and I am unable to do much while working and trying to visit Robert as much as possible. Please help us, if you can. If we can raise enough money to help us get our home ready to rent, get our possessions ready to move, and get the eBay business in order to postpone until after the transplant, I will be able to spend as much time with Robert and also to enable him as many visits with his children as possible in this crucial time. Please help us to maintain our current bills, and to help pay some of Robert's medical debts, so that he can rest easier while we wait to get on a transplant list. 

Thank you all for supporting Robert in this hard time. He has always been able to financially support me in order to follow my dreams of working in harm reduction, as well as being able to stay home with our children as much as possible. Please help support us, so that we can spend this crucial time with Robert. As positive as I am about his success with a transplant, I also cannot even begin to think about him not being able to spend as much time with his children right now as possible. Any little bit helps!