Main fundraiser photo

Help Cherie Pay Medical Air Transport Debt

  UPDATE ON CHERIE AND HER FINAL WISHES TO BE HOME WITH HER FAMILY

As many of you know, Cherie is now in Texas with her family by her side! Many, Many, THANKS to those of you who have helped make this happen!! The picture shown, is of Cherie and I at her home in Dallas on April 28th, 2019. It has been a busy and daunting last two months, getting her home set up in Dallas, on Hospice and under the best care possible!

We were able to get her to Dallas with the funds raised but had to finance $12,000 because the total cost of the Med Flight was $20,000!! To date, we have only raised a little over $7000 on the GoFundMe.
Cherie and Robert are trying to survive on only a small disability check per month. THE $12,000 DEBT FOR THE MED FLIGHT TO DALLAS, NEEDS TO BE PAID OFF.

Cherie is struggling daily to survive and remain as strong as possible, but the costs of insurance, food, rent and their mounting debt, remain daunting. They are now relying on personal donations and various Food Banks in their area.
Cherie remains tethered to three large oxygen concentrators, consuming 17-20+LPM of oxygen. She relies on complete support from others. She is doing some PT, to walk by herself to the portable toilet by her bed or the sofa, but even this simple task is daunting and oxygen consuming.
Last night, we almost lost Cherie, because while sleeping, she became entangled in her oxygen hose and inadvertently pulled off her oxygen cannula! Fortunately, in her unconscious struggle and seizures for breathing, it woke Robert, who came to her aid!

Please, if you haven't donated, please consider doing so TODAY. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS! If you have already donated and can donate again, it would be a tremendous blessing to Cherie and Robert.
Your continued prayers for her are most welcome, as well as, sharing her story, to help find other donations.

While there is NOTHING we can do to save Cherie's life, we can help her by relieving her anxiety and paying off this enormous debt of $12,000 incurred to meet her final wishes. Please, Can YOU help her?

On behalf of Cherie & Robert,
Thank you and God Bless You,
Michelle


CHERIE'S STORY AND DIAGNOSIS OF IDIOPATHIC PULMONARY FIBROSIS

 

Cherie Beck Harp-Baird is only 53 years old.  I have known her for 21 of those years.  She is a very strong woman and a great mother, grandmother, wife and friend.  She is fun loving, she loves to celebrate just about every event on the Hallmark Calendar, especially ones you can make or wear a costume to and then some!  She has a real zest for living life and shares that with everyone she meets.

But, now her life long dream with her husband and soulmate; her very life, has been cut short by IPF.  What is IPF? Idiopathic (meaning cause is unknown) Pulmonary Fibrosis (meaning scaring of lung tissue).   IPF is a family of 200 VERY RARE lung diseases, for which there is NO CURE.  You don’t get IPF by smoking, (something Cherie NEVER did), or by genetics.  They really don’t know what causes it. 40,000 people die from it each year.  The scarring of the lung tissue, makes it impossible to breathe well and get enough life giving oxygen into her bloodstream.  She is slowly suffocating and as her body can’t get enough oxygen it swells with fluid endangering her heart and threatening congestive heart failure.

Here is Cherie's story:

Cherie and Robert Baird married on 3/17/2012, on a beach in Florida. In January 2018, Cherie and Robert, her husband, sold their home and bought a sail boat.  It was the realization of their dream to retire early and sail the world.......

Last month, they  just celebrated their seventh wedding Anniversary, and sadly, it wasn't on their boat on some sunny island, as they had planned.  It was in a rented house, with Cherie attached to an oxygen concentrator........just recently out of ICU.

While docked on Lake Pontchartrain, in Louisiana, a cough that had plagued Cherie for a while, became very severe.  In August of 2018, Cherie was diagnosed with IPF.  Between then and now, the disease progressed extremely quickly.  The Doctor’s call it Acute Exacerbation.  In August, she went from using no additional oxygen, to now using 17 lpm (liters per minute) on three high flow oxygen concentrators, JUST lying down at rest!  Under exertion, she uses 25 lpm!  Exertion, which is just sitting up, moving into her wheel chair or trying to feed herself.  This disease has cut short their dream and their life together.  With each passing day, the tightness in her chest, makes it harder and harder to breathe, causing overwhelming anxiety - and still, she constantly rallies herself, through her family, her great faith and her friends.

Her children and her grandchildren keep her going. She recently learned that her son Tim and his wife will be expecting their second child.  Another reason for her to persevere and stretch her remaining time out as long as possible.  She wants to be in Dallas near her children and grandchildren for as long as she can.  

This brings us to the URGENCY of Cherie's situation and the reason for our fund raiser.  

Cherie is presently on Hospice in Louisiana.  Her dying wish is to be moved to Hospice in Dallas, Texas, to spend her remaining time near her children and grandchildren.  She hopes that she will gain enough strength, to be eligible for a lung transplant, God willing, which may give her a few more years.

This is a monumental and very expensive undertaking, as she requires very specific medical air transport to meet her extreme oxygen needs.  Both she and her husband (her primary care giver) have depleted most of their money and both of their 401K accounts.  

We need to raise $30,000 - $35,000 immediately, to cover the cost of her medical air transport and any other medical costs resulting from the move.  Time is of the essence, she must be transported VERY SOON.

Additionally, they have listed their Sail Boat for sale, to use to pay their staggering medical and medical equipment bills.  Insurance has been extremely problematic under the Affordable Care Act.  The Doctor they need in Texas doesn’t take any of those plans and they can’t afford anything else. 

If you or if you know of anyone, interested in purchasing their Sail Boat,
please contact us through GoFundMe.

Cherie has very little time left, we need to raise the medical air transport money ($30,000-35,000) and to sell their sail boat immediately.

Please help my very dear friend, realize her dying wish.

God Bless You, and Thank you.

Michelle Schumaker
Donate

Donations 

  • Jennifer Clendinen
    • $100 
    • 5 yrs
Donate

Organizer and beneficiary

Michelle Willhauck Schumaker
Organizer
Coopersburg, PA
Robert Baird
Beneficiary

Your easy, powerful, and trusted home for help

  • Easy

    Donate quickly and easily.

  • Powerful

    Send help right to the people and causes you care about.

  • Trusted

    Your donation is protected by the  GoFundMe Giving Guarantee.