My name is Jessica, and along with my sister Jackie, and brother Mike, we are looking to raise funds to help our parents with their impending medical bills and home retrofitting costs. On May 1, our dad was taken to the ER with pain thought to be associated with a UTI. A urine test confirmed the UTI; however, doctors found a long tear in his descending aorta after a belly scan to rule out sepsis. This finding prompted them to do a chest scan in which they found the tear originated in his ascending aorta. Within a few hours, he had open-heart surgery to save his life. The surgery to patch the aorta was successful, but damage was done to his kidneys along the way. After a couple of days post-op, it was determined that he would need some dialysis to see if they could save/reignite the remaining semi-functional kidney. He ultimately had two dialysis sessions, and as if a miracle happened, much like the life-saving UTI, his kidney responded by working again. He spent 17 days in the hospital while recovering from the surgery, the kidney issues, on and off A-fib, excess swelling, and fluid in his lungs. That's aside from working on walking through PT and OT.  The night before Dad moved to the rehab facility, Mom fell, injuring her ribs causing breathing discomfort and making it hard for her to go visit Dad and do some of her normal everyday things. 

While Dad has been recovering, Mom has been busy preparing to retrofit their home to make things easier for Dad, as even when he returns home, he'll still have many limitations for a while. She is having both toilets replaced to higher seats and support rails, getting a seat to help in the shower, and also installing a hoist system to help get their groceries to the kitchen from the garage level of their home so Dad doesn't have to carry them up two small flights of stairs each time (as Mom has balance issues related to some form of Parkinsonism). 

 

We believe insurance will cover a significant portion of their hospital expenses, but it will not cover everything. Dad's loss of income makes the situation even harder as they are facing expenses including home care, home retrofitting, and medications. With all of that, we seek a little help from anyone willing to give. Big or small, everything helps and is greatly appreciated.