Support for Karen Hendricks’ Family

Update: We are still around 700.00 short on a marker/headstone for my moms grave. We want to be able to bury her next to my brother and her mom and dad. Thank you everyone every little bit helps. 

On December 22nd, my mom Karen had a fall at home and went to LMH. She was then transferred to a rehab facility in order to gain strength to go back home.

On Wednesday January 19th, I went to the nursing facility to visit her and found her very lucid/unresponsive. The staff was unable to locate a regular heartbeat so she was taken by ambulance to Licking Memorial. We then found out she needed a pacemaker. Her heart rate was 33 bpm. Her kidneys were failing and her blood sugar dropped dangerously low. Licking memorial tried to keep her somewhat stable and then she was transferred to a larger hospital in Columbus that could better accommodate her needs. Within minutes of being there she was then put onto a ventilator due to her respiration’s being extremely low.

She is still on the ventilator. They have tried to wean her off of it twice now with no success. She has an external pacemaker in place that is pacing her heart and the vent is doing 90% of the breathing for her. Her kidney function is declining and her blood sugars have not been able to be stabilized.

After talking with the medical team we have decided to take her off the ventilator in the next day or so. My mom absolutely would not want to live on a ventilator or have to start dialysis. Also, they still do not know how much brain damage has been done.

Unfortunately she did not have Life Insurance or any funeral arrangements in place. I would like to be able to give my mom a small service or viewing. I know she has a lot of friends that would like to be able to say their goodbyes to her. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Anything will help and is very much appreciated. If you knew my mom she didn’t meet a stranger and would always help anyone.