We ♥ Curtis
Donation protected
This is Cheryl's story of what happened with Curtis
"Curtis went into Emergency in Red Deer, Saturday, July 21st around 2am, for heart racing, shortness of breath and just felt different than normal. He had taken a trip to BC 2 weeks prior to this, to finally meet his birth mom and it went really well. He has lost 50lbs with eating changes but out of nowhere started gaining weight....he would mention to me in the morning that he had put on 5lbs etc. I had chalked it up to stress and processing his trip to BC. The weight gain had continued throughout the couple weeks but things at work had gotten stressful, we moved our son and we kept blaming it on stress. By the time he got to the hospital, he was already in kidney failure and his organs were shutting down. They rushed him into ICU where they were trying different drugs etc. Sunday morning he crashed. His blood pressure got down to low 30's and that's when they installed the neck line to his heart, started him on dopamine and sent him to Edmonton. They were doing an echo on him as the EMTs were getting ready and found out his heart ejection factor was between 10-15%, whereas last June it was around 45%. Dr. Murphy was incredible in Red Deer in getting him out as fast as he could.
In Edmonton, it's been a matter of slowly getting him off the infusions, trying new drugs and get him strengthened. They don't expect his heart to return from this as it's been a slow progression downhill. Now it's a matter of finding devices, new medicine and a complete lifestyle change until he receives a heart transplant. The AICD is a defibrillator that will be placed in his heart and is merely an insurance policy that if his heart stops or gets crazy...it will shock him. A VAD is a device that pumps for his heart, but there's issues with a VAD due to his thousands and thousands of pvc's he gets every day. He's had an ablation surgery last June and it was unsuccessful. His pvc's (extra heartbeats) are everywhere and the main ones are in a part of his heart that only Toronto could do. They were consulted and they said it was too risky.There is a med they want to try for his pvc's and has been discussed but liver needs to recover a bit more to do it.
Now we try and get to a lifestyle that fits his condition until a transplant comes along. They have explained it's a very lengthy process and unless you are on life support or in cardiac arrest, it can be from 2 days, 2 weeks to 2 years. He CANNOT be around sickness as a simple cold to him could mean heart failure all over again. Curtis is gaining a strength in him to fight this and understand it all but it's a long road we are journeying on."
This really could be a long road for this family, since his disability benefits only cover half of his income. Cheryl's income is also dropping since we run a small business, and she can no longer work at this point, as she must be there to care for Curtis. Once Curtis receives his transplant, he has to live in Edmonton for 3 months, and cannot work for an entire year!
Any little bit you can donate, will help this family stay afloat during these uncertain times, especially because we really don't know what the time frame for Curtis's amount of time off will be.
Thank you for your generosity, and your willingness to help!
"Curtis went into Emergency in Red Deer, Saturday, July 21st around 2am, for heart racing, shortness of breath and just felt different than normal. He had taken a trip to BC 2 weeks prior to this, to finally meet his birth mom and it went really well. He has lost 50lbs with eating changes but out of nowhere started gaining weight....he would mention to me in the morning that he had put on 5lbs etc. I had chalked it up to stress and processing his trip to BC. The weight gain had continued throughout the couple weeks but things at work had gotten stressful, we moved our son and we kept blaming it on stress. By the time he got to the hospital, he was already in kidney failure and his organs were shutting down. They rushed him into ICU where they were trying different drugs etc. Sunday morning he crashed. His blood pressure got down to low 30's and that's when they installed the neck line to his heart, started him on dopamine and sent him to Edmonton. They were doing an echo on him as the EMTs were getting ready and found out his heart ejection factor was between 10-15%, whereas last June it was around 45%. Dr. Murphy was incredible in Red Deer in getting him out as fast as he could.
In Edmonton, it's been a matter of slowly getting him off the infusions, trying new drugs and get him strengthened. They don't expect his heart to return from this as it's been a slow progression downhill. Now it's a matter of finding devices, new medicine and a complete lifestyle change until he receives a heart transplant. The AICD is a defibrillator that will be placed in his heart and is merely an insurance policy that if his heart stops or gets crazy...it will shock him. A VAD is a device that pumps for his heart, but there's issues with a VAD due to his thousands and thousands of pvc's he gets every day. He's had an ablation surgery last June and it was unsuccessful. His pvc's (extra heartbeats) are everywhere and the main ones are in a part of his heart that only Toronto could do. They were consulted and they said it was too risky.There is a med they want to try for his pvc's and has been discussed but liver needs to recover a bit more to do it.
Now we try and get to a lifestyle that fits his condition until a transplant comes along. They have explained it's a very lengthy process and unless you are on life support or in cardiac arrest, it can be from 2 days, 2 weeks to 2 years. He CANNOT be around sickness as a simple cold to him could mean heart failure all over again. Curtis is gaining a strength in him to fight this and understand it all but it's a long road we are journeying on."
This really could be a long road for this family, since his disability benefits only cover half of his income. Cheryl's income is also dropping since we run a small business, and she can no longer work at this point, as she must be there to care for Curtis. Once Curtis receives his transplant, he has to live in Edmonton for 3 months, and cannot work for an entire year!
Any little bit you can donate, will help this family stay afloat during these uncertain times, especially because we really don't know what the time frame for Curtis's amount of time off will be.
Thank you for your generosity, and your willingness to help!
Organizer and beneficiary
Melanie Thiessen
Organizer
Red Deer, AB
Cheryl Bawtinheimer
Beneficiary
