Support Emily's Recovery After Lung Collapse

On November 9th, our friend Emily was visiting from New York when her and her sister went to the ER assuming she had pulled a muscle or broken a bone. Emily spent hours in immense pain waiting to be seen. When they got to her, the full severity of the situation was realized (the official diagnosis is spontaneous pneumothorax) and she was rushed off for an emergency operation (thoracentesis) where they inserted chest tubes to re-inflate her collapsed lung, which was so full of trapped air and lung fluid that it was beginning to impact the blood flow to her heart and her remaining lung. She was awake for the entirety of the operation, suffering significant pain and trauma from the process. The doctors and nurses have repeatedly said that this is one of the most painful operations they perform.

Shortly after the operation they attempted to cut off the suction to the tubes causing a second lung collapse. This, again, caused Emily *a lot* of pain. They repeated the thoracentesis operation, inserting another chest tube, which again did not work. Her lung collapsed a total of 4 times before she was transferred to a different hospital and underwent a new procedure (surgical pleurodesis) on November 15th that fused the walls of her chest cavity to her lungs in hopes of keeping it inflated. As of 11/19/2024 she is unfortunately back on suction and awaiting information about the next steps. We are unsure when she will be able to leave the hospital. She will not be able to work (or even fly back to New York) for the foreseeable future.

Throughout the last two weeks Emily has handled all of the stress and pain with an incredible amount of grace and humility. She's managed to remain her clever and funny and beautiful self, making friends with the hospital staff she’s met along the way and keeping both her own and her loved ones’ spirits high. We are hoping that by raising this money we will be able to ease some of her financial stress so she can focus on making a full recovery. This money will go towards her rent and living expenses, eventual transportation back to New York, and the many thousands of dollars of medical bills she will be left with. Please share and donate if you are able. Any and all support is very, very appreciated.