Support Joani Heston's Final Battle

Hello, my name is Meagan Heston, and I'm reaching out to our beloved ones with heavy hearts as I share the story of our sister, friend Joan Heston, better known as Joani. Joani isn't just a daughter, a sister, a mother, or a friend. She is a fighter, and she is now facing the toughest final battle of her life. At 60 years old, Joani has been given a terminal prognosis. My mother is such an incredibly strong, loving, and caring person. She was diagnosed with Renal (Kidney) disease and has been undergoing dialysis treatments three times a week since early 2020. Joani is a mother of two adult children, Michael, age 36, and myself, Meagan, age 32, as well as a beloved grandmother, or as we say, “Gma,” of two grandsons, Cameron, age 15, and Quinton, 7 months. She cherishes those boys more than anything in this world, calling them her “G babies.” Joani’s drive to continue fighting since the beginning has been for her kids and grandkids. However, due to the years of dialysis and how harsh it is on the human body, she was recently diagnosed with calciphylaxis, a rare syndrome characterized by painful skin lesions that lead to chronic non-healing wounds, which began to develop several months ago. Then, on Monday, September 23rd, once at dialysis, she went into respiratory failure due to the calciphylaxis turning septic, making her completely unresponsive and immediately being transported to Cox South by ambulance. There, she was intubated and stabilized in the ICU, where she remained for over a week and a half, getting treated for sepsis while also working with the wound team and many other incredible staff. Miraculously, my mom was able to get extubated and into a private room, though still in very critical condition, with a feeding tube for her daily nutrition.

So just when all hope was looking down, these past several weeks, my mom has been slowly making progress, fighting stronger and harder like never before. We were then faced with a very unthinkable decision. Given the progressive nature of the disease and how it can only get worse, our medical options were if she could show signs of eating better and being more involved with the physical therapy side of things, we could possibly get her into a rehabilitation facility to get stronger to a point. Or the other option being hospice, which if we were to go that route, she would then only have 7 to 10 days from her last dialysis treatment before she would leave us, due to not being able to do hospice and dialysis together.

Then remarkably, on my birthday, October 24th, I received a phone call from the hospital social worker, telling me that we were able to start the process of getting her into a skilled nursing facility. Joani has truly come really far and was able to get the feeding tube removed, as well as not needing the oxygen support she was on anymore.

Then yesterday, November 4th, I received another phone call from one of the nurses informing me that my mother, once back from dialysis, was more unresponsive than normal. Even on normal dialysis days, she's pretty lethargic. It was so severe that they now have her in what's called a “Step Down Unit,” similar to ICU, for closer monitoring and to be able to run further tests. But even though we haven't lost the battle yet, this one is sadly inevitable. So with the emotional pain and stress death brings, it also brings financial burdens. I'm asking for any level of generosity, no matter the size, big or small, or even to share her story, which would be tremendously appreciated. Especially during this difficult time of profound grief and uncertainty, our family has been going through. All funds raised will assist with the funeral services and arrangements. Please keep Joani and our family in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you all so much for your time. Have a blessed day.

With love and gratitude,

Meagan Heston.