Shirlene Moultrie’s final (funeral) arrangements

I am Zipporah the daughter of Shirlene Moultrie. I am raising money to pay for her funeral arrangements. On February 6, my mom started off her day like any other. Around 8:20 am, she began experiencing respiratory distress; so we brought her out to the kitchen table to start a nebulizer treatment. As we were connecting the tubes to the mask and machine, she grabbed the mask in a panic and said, “I need some air,” and swiftly turned the machine on. It was at that time I doubled down on my initial reaction, which was to call paramedics to have her taken to the hospital for more sufficient care. I placed the first call at 8:25am and spoke to them for 2 minutes total as I begged and pleaded with them to send an ambulance as soon as possible. As I was walking back from the door, my dad yelled out. It was at that moment my mother’s eyes rolled back. She began almost convulsing as she struggled to breathe. Her body went limp and by 8:30am, I was calling 911 again. They explained that two units had been dispatched and were on their way; however, the snow from the night prior caused a slight delay in response time. It was at that point my dad was already trying to blow air into her mouth. The communications team told us to begin CPR, which at that point we had already come to that conclusion. My fiancé and I moved her from her walker to the floor. As he held her head, I began CPR. What happened next none of us could imagine. The paramedics arrived and saw she wasn’t breathing, her heart stopped, and she had a shallow pulse. They began lifesaving measures and intubated her while placing her on a machine that would pump her heart. Once they got her back, they waited until she stabilized until they could move her. They worked on her in the house for quite some time. Then she was moved into the ambulance and rushed to Beth Israel. My dad and I jumped in my SUV and followed; we arrived not much after she did. When we did, they had us wait in a consult room where we were told it didn’t look promising. When we saw my mother, her clothes of course had been cut off and she laid on the table, hands and feet cold. Her eyes looked empty. We had hope even after being told by doctors that she wouldn’t recover. We didn’t give up on her even in the last moments. They ran tests and declared her brain dead on 2/8 at 3:25 pm after doing a bedside test in addition to multiple scans and neurology studies. All tests concluded that she suffered a major cardiac arrest. As a result, she had major brain swelling and ultimately, in the time she was deprived of oxygen, she was rendered brain dead as no blood was flowing to the brain and there was no brain activity. Although her heart was beating on its own, the machine was doing all the breathing for her. It was on that Saturday, with multiple family members by her side still with hope, they told us that she is legally declared deceased. They allowed her to be sustained by life support so other family could say their goodbyes, and she was unhooked from the machines Monday, 2/10.

We are asking for any help as she didn’t have life insurance and we prepare to make her final arrangements. Anything helps. Shirlene was loved by all that knew her and will be greatly missed. She leaves behind a husband, 2 daughters as one preceded her in death, 3 grandchildren, 2 sons-in-law, and a host of sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews.