Support Vickie Sulmeisters' Medical Journey

My name is Greg Kinney. My wife Joan and I have been friends for many, many years with Walt and Vickie Sulmeisters. Our children grew up together, and they are very special, kind, and wonderful people.

Vickie has been dealing with some serious health issues for years, but recently, while traveling to New Zealand to meet and get to know their son-in-law’s family, she suffered a closed-loop bowel obstruction. Vickie required emergency surgery, and Walt was told that she most likely would not survive the operation. Then, he was told that she wouldn’t survive the first few days in the ICU. Then he learned that some things they saw on her CT scan were life-threatening. But now, as of March 22nd, almost 4 weeks later and 24 days in the ICU, they are actually talking about allowing her to go home to Denver, CO.

They moved Vickie out of the ICU late last night to a surgical ward. They have also started the process of planning how Walt and Vickie can get home to Colorado. A registered nurse is flying in from Bangkok, Thailand, to accompany Vickie for the entire trip. The major problem is that she has very severe ascites, and they really want to get her back to her doctors in Denver. The ascites make her very uncomfortable and continuously nauseous. She has not been able to eat any regular food and has worn an NG tube.

The medical and travel costs are overwhelming. Please share anything that you can to help this wonderful family.