Mother of Four Nearly Dies, House Burns Belongings

Around Christmas 2018, Jessica Blasenhauer, a close friend of mine for nearly 20 years, began to feel sick. Initially, she thought she had the flu. The first week of January 2019, after this illness rendered her unresponsive, she was rushed to the Emergency Room at Southeastern Medical Center in Cambridge, Ohio. Here, they ran tests and found that she had a thyroid storm and was in septic shock. They intubated her and life flighted her to OSU Wexner in Columbus; where they discovered the infection had traveled to her heart resulting in her having multiple strokes. She was placed on a vent, and after being admitted to OSU Wexner Center for a month, she was discharged to a rehabilitation facility where she began I.V. Therapy.

She was doing great for the first couple of weeks until she got sick again. They sent her to the ER and ran more test, where they discovered the infection had come back, this time it destroyed her mitral valve, this being a life-threatening situation. At this point, she was placed on a vent again--and for the second time in a few months--she was life flighted, this time to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. Here, fluid in her stomach and her lungs was discovered, this fluid caused her to go into liver failure and which, also, nearly killed her. Once they were able to get her liver functions back to normal, they performed an open heart surgery to fix the mitral valve destroyed from infection.

While going through these trials and tribulations, Jessica was lucky to escape death on multiple occasions. It is but for the sheer mercy and grace of God that she is with us today. However, when it rains, it pours. While at Riverside, her home and her families belongings caught fire and they lost everything. While dealing with her illnesses, her mother Lynn, sister Ashley, and her husband Josh have sacrificed many working hours to take care of her three little girls and little boy, while also taking turns to be by her bedside. Now, they rejoice that Jessica is about ready to come home. However, the fire took the home she had, and her family's resources are depleted to the point they are unable to help her.

Though I believe they need more given the enormous amount of medical costs incurred through all of this; they have chosen to set the modest goal of $5,000. This will go to renting an apartment or home that Jessica can move into and work on her rehabilitation as well as work on getting her babies back into her life. It will also help with replacing the belongings her family lost due to the house fire. I have known this family, as I mentioned before, almost 20 years now. Lynn, Jessica's mother, is as kind-hearted a soul as you could ever meet. She is a good, hardworking woman. Jessica is also known among her peers as a sweet, loving, dutiful mother and wife. I hope, you can find it in your heart, to help this family--who has in the past three to four months--been through more than any family deserves.