Support Jill Woolridge's Heart Transplant Journey

Hello, my name is Jill Woolridge. I am blessed to be a wife, a mother, and a grandmother to an incredible group of people who light up my life. I have lived with a very rare heart disease for many years. I have been in and out of the hospital enduring more surgeries than I can count but I was always able to heal fairly quickly and continue working. About a year ago, my heart finally reached its limit, and I underwent surgery to have a battery-operated internal heart pump (LVAD) implanted—something that is keeping me alive as I wait for the ultimate gift: a heart transplant.

Since then, it’s been a tough road. Complications from old heart hardware led to five more surgeries over the past year, each one requiring long and difficult recoveries. Before this chapter of my life, I had a fulfilling career with good health benefits, along with a few fun side jobs that helped support our family. But all of that came to an abrupt end the day my LVAD was installed.

This past year has tested us in every way imaginable. Yet, even through the hardest days, it has also been a year of hope, faith, and perspective. Thanks to my husband's incredible resourcefulness, we have been able to hold on financially much longer than we ever thought possible. However, the mounting medical expenses, weekly travel expenses to the heart transplant hospital (located in Austin), and loss of income are catching up with us, and we are beginning to feel the strain.

Reaching out like this is not easy for me. I am a private person, and asking for help does not come naturally. But right now, I pray that it can help me get through this journey and onto the life-saving transplant I so desperately need.

If you are able to contribute, know that every bit will make a difference. And if you can't, please consider keeping us in your prayers—that support means more to us than you could ever know.

Thank you from the bottom of my (battery-assisted) heart.

With love,

Jill and the rest of the Woolridge family