Support Sarah Lomas' Road to Recovery

Hello Friends,

Many of you know or have worked with Sarah Lomas. On the night of November 24th, Sarah was rushed to the hospital because she couldn't breathe and had been feeling really ill. What followed afterward is a brief description of what has transpired over the last 8 weeks. When Sarah was admitted to the ICU, she learned she had the flu, which turned into pneumonia and the beginning stages of diabetic ketoacidosis. Over the next few days at the hospital, it got much worse. Her diabetes evened out, but her lungs were filling with fluid, and she was not getting enough oxygen, and her blood ox was falling dangerously low. They put her on oxygen, but soon that wasn't even enough. The decision was made that they would need to sedate her and put her on a ventilator. She was sedated for about two weeks when they decided to do a chest x-ray to see how her lungs were doing. They found that they were full of fluid, and it was too thick to get it out, and she would need to be transferred to a bigger hospital better equipped to handle her decline.

After the transfer, she was admitted to the cardiovascular ICU and was put on an ECMO machine where they draw all the blood out of your body, pump it full of oxygen, and then it goes back into your body. In layman's terms, it's a type of life support. Things were not looking good, and at this point, it was a waiting game. The doctors were hopeful as she is young and has a lot to fight for, a loving husband, and two daughters (the youngest just 8 months old).

Thanksgiving and Christmas went by, and at this time, they decided that they needed to get her off the ventilator because they needed her awake to get better. The doctors performed a tracheotomy so they could get her off the ventilator. Once the trache was in, they woke her up, and her husband Mark had the difficult job of letting her know how much time had passed and what was going on with her health-wise and that she had almost died twice while she was sedated. Surrounded by her friends and family, she has slowly been getting stronger. Still on oxygen, they were able to remove the ECMO machine, but in doing so, they found a blood clot in her leg, and she had to have surgery to remove it.

Sarah is facing an uphill battle. She is relearning how to walk and do basic things. It is taxing on her body physically as well as mentally. Yesterday, she was discharged and was FINALLY able to come home after being in the hospital for over 8 weeks.

She is currently having at-home rehab and is on oxygen at home as well. Sarah could use your prayers and your support as the doctors have told her it will be about 6-8 months before she is back up to her full strength.