Support for Becky

My sister-in-law, Rebecca Rikert, recently learned that she will need to have open heart surgery in the coming weeks. She has been out of work due to her fragile health since August and missed many days before that for appointments, recovery, and procedures. Unfortunately Rebecca does not have disability benefits through her work, so while they are supportive of her, she currently has no income. Becky has three adolescent boys to provide for. As a result of her health complications, Rebecca was unable to pay her rent and has been living at her parents’ home. She has additional bills, however, which need to be paid and food to provide for herself and her family, totaling approximately $1000 per month. As one can imagine, these stressors on top of her health concerns have left Becky feeling extremely overwhelmed and anxious. 
Any help you can offer to Becky during this frightening time is greatly appreciated. 


In mid June of 2019 Rebecca experienced an episode of severe chest pain accompanied by elevated blood pressure readings, but pushed through it until the end of the work day. When she went to Urgent Care after work, her blood pressure was still quite elevated and the EKG demonstrated some concerning changes. She was referred to the hospital for emergent work up. Rebecca went to the Emergency Room that night but became overwhelmed and left despite doctor’s recommendations to complete an urgent stress test; believing her symptoms to be anxiety related and not cardiac. 
Rebecca completed the stress test and subsequent stress echocardiogram, but the results were inconclusive. Meanwhile, her EKG continued to have concerning changes and her blood pressures were intermittently elevated, so she was referred to see a Cardiologist at DHMC. The Cardiologist interpreted all of the results and felt confident that Rebecca had at some point experienced a heart attack and needed to undergo a cardiac catheterization with possible stent placement. 
At the end of August, Rebecca underwent a percutaneous coronary intervention procedure in hopes of identifying and treating the problem. However, this was just the beginning. The first attempt at obtaining access through the wrist was unsuccessful. The doctors were able to gain access through her femoral artery but the findings were not what everyone was hoping for. The main artery providing blood flow to the front of Becky’s heart was completely occluded and another of the three arteries to the heart was 50% occluded. Due to the extent of the blockages, the doctors were unable to place a stent and have decided to perform double bypass cardio thoracic surgery in hopes of saving her life.