Hi. My name is Patti. I am sending this request on behalf of my friend, Jackie MacGregor, who has been a friend since high school. Jackie (now 73) is a Canadian living on Vancouver Island. Six years ago, both Jackie and her husband, Jim, contracted cancer 30 days apart. While both were given short chances of survival, they recovered but not without a lot of expense for their chemo drugs. At that time, being in their late 60’s, they went to Panama for a healthier lifestyle. Not long afterwards, Jackie’s right leg developed a blood clot. They had no health insurance nor could she fly back to Canada for treatment because of the blood clot as well as all the Covid restrictions. Without health insurance their only option was to use the public hospital which was filthy to say the least. Jackie does not speak Spanish and was in a ward with 6 Panamanians so it was difficult to communicate. A rusty bed with one bottom sheet and no cover sheet, no pillow, no blanket; the bed was broken and the head could not be raised. The air temp was extremely cold to prevent bacteria growth and prevent virus spread. No hot water and, as for meals, it was rice and beans every day. Since it was during Covid, she was required to be double masked during her hospital stay. Thankfully her friend brought her in a blanket, pillow, snacks and drinks.

The first three surgeries failed to solve the problem as blood clots kept forming. This resulted in having 4 surgeries in all. After the last 7 hour operation and the 10 day stay in hospital they decided to take a vein from Jackie and replace the artificial one they originally used, however more clots and blockages were discovered and a synthetic vein had to be used. They then decided to attach an artificial artery flowing into the left leg and drape it over to her right leg while the now dead artery was removed. (This can be seen in the skeletal x-ray below.)

Jackie has had over 300 stitches in all (see photos). The hospital and medical costs have completely depleted their savings. Their pension income is further impacted by the US exchange rate of 30%. By now, her list of medications was growing by ridiculous amounts. The most important was the special and very expensive injectable blood thinner Badyket 7500 costing them $18 USD per day. Blood thinners are necessary to save Jackie’s leg and pills didn’t work so it is necessary for her to have daily injections for the next year or more.

Should another blood clot occur, Jackie has been told that the next option is amputation of her leg above the knee. Jackie losing her leg is unthinkable. An amputation due to blood flow issues has a very high mortality rate, 30 to 90 days for 63% of patients.

Jackie’s bandages needed changing twice daily which amounted to an hour for each change. Healing was very slow and the amounts of meds needed to prevent infections was unreal. There were meds to keep her arteries clear, meds to grow new nerves and repair tissue damage in astonishing amounts. Home care was also very expensive. The alarms for reminders to take meds were going off every hour of the day.

Jackie is slowly recovering but the medical costs are far beyond their means. They desperately need our help to keep Jackie’s recovery moving forward. The cost for Jackie’s treatment for the next year is $900 US per month.

Please, if you can help in any way, it would be greatly appreciated. No amount is too small and you will be helping to save Jackie’s life.