Heart Transplant for Eric

Meet Eric and Tara Hodgson. I was lucky enough to become friends with them 12 years ago, when I began working with Tara at Eureka Hospital. To this day, I count myself lucky to have them in my life.
Eric and Tara have been married for 22 years. Between them they have 6 children (ages 35, 27, 26, 25, 24, & 15), and 5 grandchildren (ages 5, 3, 3, 1, & 1).  Tara has worked for many years as a patient intake/CNA for Eureka Hospital. Prior to becoming ill, Eric worked for many years in social work, working mainly with disenfranchised youth. In addition to raising their own children, Eric and Tara were also licensed foster parents. In fact, 2 of their children were brothers that Eric and Tara fostered when they were very young, and ended up adopting them. They provided a safe, loving environment to countless children over the years, many of whom they still keep in contact with to this day. 
On January 13, 2005, Eric had his first heart attack. He went through Cardiac Rehab, and resumed his life and work. After continuing to struggle with heart issues, in December of 2005 he had a defibrillator pacemaker installed, and he was told he would no longer be able to work. In 2009, Eric had open heart surgery to repair a ventricular aneurysm. His diagnosis: heart failure. Over the years, Eric has undergone multiple angiograms, echos, and surgeries, all in an attempt to strengthen his heart. During one of his many visits to Mayo Clinic several years ago, Eric was told he was not a candidate for a heart transplant, he “wasn’t sick enough yet”. As if all of this was not enough, sadly, in the midst of all of this, his wife, Tara, was diagnosed with MS.
Over the last few years, Eric’s condition has gradually gotten worse. In August of 2018, his cardiologists began talking about doing an LAVD (a manual heart pump) as a BTT (Bridge to Transplant). At the beginning of October, Eric and Tara traveled to Northwestern in Chicago to speak with heart transplant doctors. After reviewing Eric’s history, and assessing the current severity
of his heart failure, the doctors want to move straight to the heart transplant. This will be a very long, exhaustive process. He has to go through a number of extensive tests, in order to make sure the rest of his body is “healthy” enough for a transplant. First up, dental work. Because Eric takes 30+ medications a day for his heart, several of these
meds have caused irreversible damage to his teeth. He was told this week that he will need 7 teeth extracted. They cannot run the risk of dental infection setting in at some point, potentially effecting the transplanted heart. While Eric and Tara have insurance, it does not include dental, meaning the cost for this extensive oral surgery may completely fall to them. 
Once all of Eric’s testing is complete, and if he is deemed healthy enough, Eric will be placed on THE LIST (the heart transplant list). At that time, he will be admitted to the hospital in Chicago, where he will remain until his transplant surgery. 
As you can imagine, the emotional and financial toll that this journey will take on Eric and his family is immense. Despite having insurance, there are so many other costs that will fall to Eric and Tara to pay. Despite her own diagnosis of MS, Tara has continued to work as much as she can over the years. However, with Eric currently needing to go back and forth to Chicago for testing, and then once he is (hopefully) admitted to await a transplant, she will need to take more and more time off work. Thankfully, Tara has family that lives near Chicago, where she will be able to stay while Eric is in the hospital, and walk to the bus station each day to go into the city to be with Eric while he is an inpatient. The money they will require for gas, bus fare for Tara, regular day to day bills at their home, and the potentially huge oral surgery bill they may face will all add up, quickly. While Eric and Tara’s children are all mostly grown, they still have a 15 year old daughter who lives at home, and so Tara will also be driving back and forth as much as she can to keep things as normal as possible for their daughter. Eric and Tara are two of the kindest people I have ever met. They are always the ones to offer help, but never to ask for it. In this situation, they are going to need help, in a big way. I am asking for any donation you may be able to make to this wonderful family, no matter the amount, because anything will help. I also ask that you please keep this wonderful man, and his family, in your prayers, because they will need that just as much as financial assistance. Please, find it in your hearts to donate to such a worthy cause. Eric has so much life and spirit left in him, he just needs a new heart so that his body can keep up with his spirit.