Julie's Lung Transplant

My name is Kayla and I am fundraising for my mom, Julie Hamilton. She was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension and congestive heart failure years ago. In the recent months she has spent most of her time in the hospital, unable to go home. We have now gotten to the point that she needs a lung transplant. Pre-transplant, she is not healthy enough to go home and needs the specialized care. We are making trips to and from the hospital in San Diego to meet with social workers and various transplant coordinators. Post-transplant will come with a terrible amount of out-of-pocket costs. She will need to relocate, along with a full-time caregiver, to be near the transplant hospital as she will have a minimum of 4 appointments a week for about 6 months up to a year depending on how well her healing process goes. San Diego County has a much higher cost of living and with the social workers help we are on a waitlist for a lower cost housing through the hospital. This housing is still more expensive than our current homes in our county. This housing also unfortunately only covers the patient and a caregiver and we still have families to care for at home. This makes the situation feel impossible as there are still medical costs, gas, food, etc. Without this lung transplant her life expectancy is extremely low and most of her time will be spent hospitalized. Though it feels impossible, the idea of losing my mother and watching her suffer in the process feels much worse. With new lungs she will require life long medications and care but the possibility of the long term outcome is beautiful. She would be able to enjoy life healthy after healing. She will be able to breathe and exercise and spend time enjoying her family. Most importantly, her grand babies. There is nothing I want more than to make some more beautiful memories and watch our children grow up with their Mammie. Any help makes a difference.