Support for Rachael and Gillie Sheinfeld

Rachael is a beloved special education teacher with Madison County Public Schools and Gillie a valued employee of the University of Virginia. However, on March 27th, 2025, Rachael and Gillie Sheinfeld’s lives changed forever when Rachael’s heart stopped, literally.

Rachael had recently returned home from a rehabilitation facility following a second amputation of two toes on her right foot in December of 2024. On March 27th, Rachael, a diabetic in kidney failure and on dialysis, went to the hospital thinking she had contracted peritonitis, which was later confirmed. That’s when it happened. Her heart stopped. After extensive CPR and defibrillation, the doctors were able to bring her back only to have it happen again. Rachael was then intubated and put on life support where she was in a coma for 4 days.

Rachael was in a different rehabilitation facility where she was learning how to walk and do things on her own again. Most of her ribs were crushed in the resuscitation process, and she has experienced a great deal of muscle atrophy between the two cardiac arrests and the coma. As of April 19th, she is currently back in the hospital due to extremely low blood pressure readings.

To make matters worse, Rachael and Gillie lost their father unexpectedly in May of 2023. Mr. Sheinfeld paid all of the bills for their home, including the mortgage. With his sudden death, all of this fell onto the shoulders of Rachael and Gillie. Since then, they have been going back and forth with the mortgage company specifically regarding monthly payments. Recently, the mortgage company denied Rachael and Gillie access to the account and is currently claiming that they have not paid since late 2024. This has led to the possibility of their childhood, and current, home falling into foreclosure very soon if they are unable to catch up on the payments.

Rachael, who is on leave from work for the December amputation and was working as a part-time tutor just to help make ends meet, is currently unable to work or do many things on her own, including standing. Her insurance is currently stating that she will need to leave the rehabilitation center soon, much too early. If this is the case, Rachael will continue to need around-the-clock care, daily nursing visits, and several pieces of medical equipment in the home just to make life comfortable.

We are asking for support for these two amazing women as they try to find normalcy in this new version of life. All donations will be put towards the care of Rachael, Gillie, and the house.

Thank you so much for reading about this cause and for any support that you may be able to provide.

A Meal Train has also been started to help support Rachael and Gillie. The link can be found here: https://mealtrain.com/n4lvqd